The Passing of Sins
by Tanba Josav
Summary: John Sheppard can't remember the last mission he was on. Something must have gone wrong or he wouldn't be waking up in the infirmary, again. Why does everyone seem to be acting so strange, is it them . . . or him? NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter One **

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper. Therefore I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of the Stargate franchise. I am just playing in the universe and am not making any money from this.

Thanks: To Jolinar Jackson for the being a great beta reader.

~ SGA ~

The muted bleeping of the nearby machines had become all too familiar to Colonel John Sheppard during his time here. Sighing, he opened his eyes to find himself once again in the Atlantis infirmary. The worst part was he had no idea why he was here. Had it been a Wraith stunblast? It didn't feel like he had been shot in any conventional sense. Maybe he'd taken one too many blows while training with Ronon.

Sitting up, Sheppard looked around; Doctor Beckett didn't seem to be on duty for once. Normally the amiable Scotsman made an effort to be about whenever one of Sheppard's team was injured. In fact, Sheppard swung his legs over the gurney, no one seemed about. Even in the middle of the night, you could count on someone being up. The whole place was run by workaholics.

'Hello?' Sheppard slid off the side of the bed, wincing slightly at the coldness of the floor on his bare feet. 'Doctor Beckett? Elizabeth? Teyla . . . anyone?'

It was too quiet; the only sound Sheppard could hear was the faint swish of waves washing against the city outside. A sound that was normally drowned out by the quiet hum of machines or the gentle drone of lowered voices. Where was everyone?

'Should you be up, Colonel?'

Sheppard looked up to see a nurse enter the infirmary, cradling a thick sandwich. 'Huh?'

_Oh yeah, real slick, John._

'I know I'm supposed to be on duty but,' the nurse waved her sandwich about, 'I got a bit peckish. You won't tell Doctor Beckett on me, will you?'

'Your secret is safe with me,' Sheppard tried to remember the nurse's name. He just didn't have the knack of name recall that Weir had. 'Rodriguez, right?'

'Yes, sir.' Rodriguez shyly smiled as she held out the sandwich. 'Are you hungry, sir?'

For the briefest of seconds, the nurse's face seemed to blur, exposing some twisted dark face that snarled back at Sheppard.

Blinking in surprise Sheppard stepped backwards. 'Uh, no thanks.' Trying to act casually, he changed the movement so that he placed the bed between the two of them. 'Say, where is everyone?'

'Sleeping, sir, everyone's asleep except for us.' Noticing Sheppard's actions, Rodriguez frowned. 'Is everything alright, sir?'

'Just looking for my boots.'

Thrown by the sudden change of conversation, Rodriguez just shrugged. 'Uh, in the locker?'

'And my P90?'

'In the armoury down stairs.' Rodriquez frown deepened.

'Good, good, safety first eh?' Sheppard nodded like he expected the answer, which in fact, he did. Anything else would have been against protocol. But what if he had just seen hiding behind Rodriquez's face was real? Just this once, he wished his team had been a little slack in that department.

'Are you sure you're alright?'

Sheppard smiled at the nurse. 'Just dandy, don't let me keep you from your sandwich.'

'Oh,' Rodriguez nodded, 'yes, sir.'

Sheppard watched as Nurse Rodriguez walked over to the other side of the room and settled herself down at a desk. Picking up a pen, she began to make some notes on a chart.

'So,' Sheppard looked about the room. 'Rest of the team get back okay?'

'Yes, sir.'

'What? Even Rodney?'

Rodriquez giggled slightly. ''Fraid so, sir.'

'Typical, and you know you don't have to keep calling me 'sir'.'

'Yes, s – uh . . . Colonel Sheppard.'

'See, that's much more informal.' Sheppard sighed before something caught his eye.

'You really should get back into bed, sir. Doctor's orders.' Rodriquez turned her chair to look up at Sheppard. 'Or do I have to call Doctor Beckett?'

John held up his hands in surrender. 'Couldn't get the good doc outta bed, I'll behave.'

'Good night, then.'

'Night.' Waving at the nurse, Sheppard pulled across the privacy screen next to him and sat down heavily on the bed. He sat there cross-legged for several minutes, just waiting. Waiting as Nurse Rodriquez settled back down and silence crept back into the room.

As soon as several minutes passed, Sheppard slid quietly across the bed and stepped down on the other side. Moving away from the gurney he peered around the privacy screen. Seeing that Rodriquez was bent over some paperwork, he hurried over to a nearby tray and picked up the scalpel he had just spotted a few minutes ago. Armed and feeling cranky, Colonel John Sheppard tiptoed out of the infirmary.

~ SGA ~

Too quiet, too quiet, Atlantis was way too quiet. Sheppard jogged down the corridor, feeling overexposed in his hospital pyjamas.

_Priorities, John. Find my team, find some weapons, not to mention some shoes and save the day. Yeah, same old, same old, except maybe for the shoes part._

Sheppard slowed as he came to another junction, should he go up towards the Control Room or head down? Any enemy's priority would be to secure the 'gate so going up would at least let him see who, or what, he was dealing with . . . on the other hand, he'd prefer to do that with a little more than a scalpel and the thin clothes on his back. Nobody could have taken this station without at least some resistance and anyone not initially captured, and Sheppard would have bet heavily on his team being some of them, would have scattered downwards to hide.

'Down it is,' he muttered to himself.

There was a transport chamber two corridors over to the left; with a destination in mind, Sheppard ducked his head around the corner. Seeing that the way was clear, he continued jogging along the corridor.

~ SGA ~

Sheppard was peering around the last corner, just observing the transport chamber in case anyone thought of using it in the next few seconds, when someone bumped into him from behind.

'Watch it, you idi-, hey!'

Sheppard recognised Rodney McKay's voice in mid turn and he quickly hid the scalpel behind his leg. 'Rodney?'

'What are you doing out of bed, does Carson know you're up?'

'Yeah, sure,' Sheppard lied, 'what are you doing up?'

'I'm always up.'

'And eating,' John observed the large sandwich and mug of coffee that Rodney was cradling.

'I always do that, too.'

The two men stared at each other for a few minutes.

'So,' Sheppard drew the sound out. 'Whatcha doing?'

Rodney shrugged, 'Oh, you know. You must be feeling better.'

It was Sheppard's turn to shrug. 'Don't really remember. Say, Rodney, where is everyone?'

'Everyone?' Rodney took a bite out of his sandwich. 'Oh, about,' he mumbled.

'Does anything seem a little strange to you?'

Rodney swallowed before answering. 'Strange? Everything is strange around here. I'd be more worried about things appearing normal.'

Now that he mentioned it John realised that normal was . . . well . . . not the norm anymore. Still, he knew Rodney as well as most people around here, knew the brilliant scientist enough to know that he wouldn't just be standing about casually if things had really hit the fan. No one liked a panic more than Doctor Rodney McKay, not even Zelenka. To see him just casually wandering about, stuffing his face, like nothing was wrong, it just didn't make sense.

'Listen, there's been no blips on the intergalactic radar recently, has there? No unusual behaviour from returning teams, no unexpected visitors?'

Rodney shook his head, preparing to take another bite. 'Nope, everything's normal.'

There was that 'n' word again. It wasn't some McKay code for "help us we've been taken over by shape changing monsters and we need rescuing", was it? Sheppard watched McKay take another bite out of his sandwich.

McKay noticed Sheppard staring at his food. 'What?'

'Just never seen anyone combine tuna, horse radish, pickles _and_ mustard before, not to mention. . . ' He leant forwards slightly as he caught a sniff of something . . . was that lemon? There was no way Rodney would voluntarily put himself anywhere near citrus fruit, unless this wasn't the real Rodney McKay.

_Think, John, think, the station has been overrun and the enemy could be anyone. They don't know you know, yet, so maybe if you just play along for a bit._

'Maybe I'm just hungry. So everything's normal?'

McKay nodded, 'As it ever gets around here.'

'And Teyla and Ronon?'

McKay shrugged, 'Who knows, probably beating each other up somewhere.'

'What about Elizabeth?'

'Oh, she's not here.'

Sheppard went very still. 'What do you mean she's not here?'

'Uh, she's off world? Yes, yes, she went off world. Some diplomatic thing, I wasn't paying much attention. You mean she didn't tell you?'

They didn't have Weir. Sheppard was counting on some physical contact to make the shape shifting change work, without a body you had no impostor; if they had Elizabeth Weir they would have paraded her before him by now. As the two ranking members of Atlantis, these shape changers would need both of them if they were going to successfully impersonate the station's crew and prepare to invade Stargate Command of whatever it was they were working towards. Not being a big fan of politics and subterfuge Sheppard decided enough was enough. Maybe it was time to go on the offensive.

'Maybe I should go up to Command, seems like I've been missing out on a lot of things.'

Sheppard began to move around McKay, only to find the Canadian blocking his path.

'I don't think that's such a good idea,' McKay said.

'Really?'

'Uh, look you're obviously not completely well. I mean you've been sick and are you sure Carson knows you're up and about?'

'Rodney,' Sheppard growled, 'move.'

McKay blocked Sheppard again. 'No!'

'McKay, I order you to get out of my way.'

'You can't order me around! I'm a civilian. Look, you're not yourself at the moment.'

Sheppard laughed. '_I'm_ not myself? How's that slice of lemon in your sandwich, _Rodney_?'

_Show yourself, you bastard. Prove me right._

As if on cue McKay's face blurred slightly, revealing some dark monstrosity underneath.

'John!'

Grabbing a fistful of shirt Sheppard pulled McKay towards him, sidestepping the spluttering Canadian, Sheppard slipped behind McKay bringing the scalpel up to rest at McKay's throat as they both ended up facing the threat that had snuck up behind him. The startled squeak from Rodney and the shattering of a ceramic mug the only sound as Sheppard looked toward the person who had called out his name. So much for the hope that Weir still remained free.

They must have come out of the Transport Chamber while Rodney was distracting him. Now the whole gang was here: Weir, Teyla, Ronon, McKay and Beckett.

'John,' Elizabeth said again, 'what are you doing?'

'What am I doing?' Sheppard nodded towards Ronon, who had his big ass gun out and pointing in his direction. 'How about what is _he_ doing?'

Weir looked towards Ronon. 'His job.'

'That's on stun, right?' Sheppard asked.

Ronon hesitated slightly before replying. 'Yes.'

'You do realise that if you hit me, you'll get McKay too.'

Ronon shrugged. 'I can live with that.'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, will I?' McKay asked.

Teyla stepped forward and placed a hand on Ronon's arm. 'Perhaps we should all lower our weapons, including you, John.'

'Yeah,' Sheppard tightened his grip on the scalpel. 'I have a slight problem with that.'

'Ronon, lower your weapon,' Weir said.

'Are you serious?' Ronon asked.

'As a sign of trust.'

Ronon grunted as he looked from Weir to Teyla to Sheppard before angrily slamming his gun back into its holster.

Everyone looked towards Sheppard. 'No way, not gonna happen.'

'If I didn't know better, John,' Weir said, 'I'd think you didn't trust us.'

Sheppard laughed. He was standing here having a nice chat with shape changing aliens. He should be on the attack, not exchanging pleasantries. But it was hard not to think of these people as his friends. They looked like them, they sounded like them, hell they acted _exactly_ like them. They just lulled you into a false sense of safety.

Hey everything's fine, we're all buddies here!

'I don't trust you?' he asked. 'Normally I'd trust you all with my life, hell several times over, but you're not you, Elizabeth.'

'Then who am I?'

'You're aliens, shape changing aliens. You've taken over Atlantis, and you're impersonating everyone here.'

Beckett sighed, 'I think I might have an explanation.'

'To shape changing aliens?' Sheppard laughed slightly, 'I'd love to hear it, Doc.'

'Colonel, you've been ill,' Beckett said.

'Look,' Sheppard said, 'I've got a headache, sure, but I'm fine.'

'No, son, you're not.'

'John, what do you remember about your last mission?' Elizabeth asked.

Sheppard tried thinking back, where had they been again? 'It was some little village; we're always visiting little villages. Nothing exciting happened and we all came home.'

'John, you walked into a Wraith trap. There were heavy casualties with Major Svenson and his team, you barely made it back alive.'

'Pretty sure I would have remembered that.'

'Remembered?' McKay said. 'You froze and almost got us all killed. I had to fly the Jumper back and you know how much I enjoy that!'

'No!' Sheppard's hand tightened on the scalpel. 'I would have remembered!'

Weir and Beckett looked at each other. 'Son,' Beckett started.

'Drop the home spun twaddle, Beckett,' Sheppard snapped.

'Colonel, you've had a psychotic break,' Beckett said. 'I'm sorry, the pressures we've all been under . . . some people cope with it better than others.'

'No, you're lying.'

'We were all there when it happened,' Rodney said. 'You were crying like a baby.'

'Do you really think annoying me is in your best interest at the moment?' Sheppard asked Rodney.

Rodney gulped and then winced as he felt the slight sting of a cut over his Adam's apple, 'Actually, maybe you're right, carry on.'

'John,' Elizabeth said, 'I'm afraid it's true, you're not well. I've already contacted the SGC and recommended that Colonel Caldwell replace you immediately. I'm sorry; I honestly thought you were the man for the job.'

'I _am_ the man for the job. Why am I even arguing with you about this?' Sheppard said. 'It's obvious this is some kind of trick, you want me out of the way so you can take over not only Atlantis but Earth, too.'

'John, this is no trick, we aren't aliens,' Elizabeth said. 'We're your friends and we're worried about you.'

'I must be immune to whatever crap you're peddling, you can't change me so you're going to lock me up in a rubber room and keep me out of the way.'

'Colonel Sheppard, John,' Teyla spoke up, 'please believe we're only here to help you.'

'Somehow I doubt that.'

'Colonel,' Beckett said, 'look at it from our point of view. We've seen a lot of things in the Pegasus Galaxy, but shape changing aliens?'

'What if I had proof?' Sheppard said.

Weir and Beckett looked at each other. 'What kind of proof?' Weir asked.

Oh, now there were getting worried. They were wondering what he had, what they might have missed.

'Let's just say I have a keen sense of smell.'

'You've been smelling things?' Weir asked.

'Olfactory hallucinations aren't common,' Beckett said to Weir. 'But they can occur.'

Obviously he had to spell it out to them. 'I'm not talking about hallucinations, I'm talking about fact. McKay plus citrus equals you didn't do your homework too well.'

'Everyone knows that Rodney is allergic to citrus,' Weir said. 'He's always telling people.'

'Hey, I'm right here you know,' Rodney said.

'Shut up, Rodney,' Weir and Sheppard both said at the same time.

'Fine,' Sheppard said. 'You want proof? I'll give you real proof. Let's see what's really inside.'

Sheppard pushed McKay in the back of the knees forcing the smaller man towards the ground. The others were too slow to react as Sheppard forced McKay's head back and sliced his throat with the scalpel.

~ SGA ~

'KILL YOU ALL!'

John Sheppard sat bolt upright in the infirmary screaming his anger and rage at the world, his hair was plastered flat with sweat and his eyes, large and dilated, darted unseeing about the room. Ronon and a couple of male nurses where struggling to keep him leaping off the bed and attacking anyone.

'I need those restraints, now!' Beckett snapped. 'And get me another 30ccs of Haldol.'

One of the other doctors tossed Beckett a padded leather restraint as she took the other one over to the far side of the bed. Wriggling in between Ronon and the wall, she attached the strap to the metal bed and grabbed for Sheppard's arm. 'A little help,' she said.

Teyla rushed forward and also grabbed his arm, with Ronon pushing the Colonel to lie back down; together they managed to restrain his right arm. Looking over the other side of the bed, they saw that Beckett had done the same. Ronon moved to the bottom of the bed and grabbed Sheppard's legs as the man bucked and rocked, trying to break free.

Sighing Beckett accepted a syringe. 'I hope this works,' he said as he inserted the needle into the Colonel's arm. Looking up he addressed Weir who was standing back with McKay. 'I don't understand it,' he said. 'I've given him enough sedative to knock out a horse.'

Weir crossed her arms. 'Do we know what's wrong with him?'

'Right now, I have no bloody idea. I'm hard pressed just to keep him sedated. What happened out there?'

Both Beckett and Weir turned to look at McKay.

McKay crossed then uncrossed his arms again. 'Don't look at me, this is not my fault!'

'Rodney,' Weir warned.

'It was the artefact,' Rodney said. 'He passed out right after the ceremony. Ronon had to stun him just to be sure and then we had to drag him back to the Puddle Jumper and you know how much I enjoy flying that thing through the Stargate.'

Elizabeth Weir looked over at Sheppard. 'What exactly happened out there?'

'Oh well –'

Weir held up one hand to stop McKay. 'I want a full report from all of you immediately in my office.' She looked over at Beckett. 'Carson you'll keep me informed about any changes?'

Beckett nodded. 'You'll know as soon as I do.'

'And the artefact?'

'It's not like we could bring the thing back but I left Zelenka all my scans, he has them in the lab,' Rodney said.

Weir touched her earpiece 'Doctor Zelenka?'

'_Yes?'_

'Find out everything you can about this artefact, and I don't have to remind you,' she glanced over at Sheppard's comatose body, 'time is of the essence here.'

'_Of course, I'll contact you the minute I find something of importance.'_

'Thank you.' Weir looked at Rodney, Teyla and Ronon. 'Now tell me everything.'


	2. Chapter 2

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Two**

'All I'm saying is: why can't I fly the Jumper a bit more?' John Sheppard asked as he looked across at Rodney McKay who was expertly piloting the Puddle Jumper through the planet's atmosphere, just above the tree tops.

'Gee, I dunno, Sheppard, maybe because I need the practice? Flying in a straight line is all good and fine but I need the finesse.' Spotting a large clearing he brought the ship in for a gentle touch down. 'See?'

Teyla appeared over Sheppard's shoulder. 'Those mainland trips have improved your skills, Rodney,' she said, approvingly.

'Yeah, buddy,' Ronon added from where he was sitting. 'You're almost as good a pilot as you are a fighter.'

McKay threw back at grin at the Satedan. 'How you feeling, anyway?'

Ronon noted the glances from Sheppard and Teyla. 'After our last sparring session, I got knocked down so many times, my ass is killing me,' he explained.

_Rodney, are you sure this is exactly what happened?_

~ SGA ~

Rodney McKay blinked and stuttered to a halt. The rest of Sheppard's team along with Elizabeth were all sitting in Weir's office. 'What do you mean?'

'I need to know exactly what transpired on your last mission if we're going to find out what happened to John,' Elizabeth said.

'What do you think I was doing?'

Elizabeth, looking a little lost for words for a second, glanced at Ronon and Teyla. Ronon, who was leaning against the doorframe, just shook his head in bemusement.

Teyla acknowledged Weir's silent appeal and spoke up. 'Perhaps I should speak of what happened.'

Rodney turned in his seat and glared at Teyla. 'What makes you so special?'

Teyla inclined her head slightly. 'My people have a strong tradition in retaining information that is passed on as stories. And besides,' she tried to mollify McKay's pride, 'you were busy taking readings of that strange power source and might have missed some important information.'

'Oh well.' Slightly relieved at the thought of not having to tell the whole story on his own, Rodney settled back in his chair. 'By all means then.'

Elizabeth smiled her thanks. 'Please, Teyla, start at the beginning.'

~ SGA ~

'All I'm saying is: why can't I fly the Jumper a bit more?'

'Gee, I dunno, Rodney,' Sheppard replied, as he navigated the ship along the tree tops. 'Maybe because I like to get there in one piece?'

'What's wrong with my flying?' asked McKay. 'I can fly in a straight line.'

'Sure and that's swell when all you have to worry about is dodging planets, but atmospheric flying takes a bit more finesse.' Sheppard tilted the jumper, as if in demonstration, to avoid a slightly taller tree. Spotting a large clearing, he brought the ship in for a gentle touch down. 'See?'

'Well maybe if I got the chance to fly occasionally, I might get some finesse!'

'Perhaps when we aren't as busy, John could take you to the mainland for some practice?' said Teyla, ever the peacekeeper.

'Gee, thanks.' As Sheppard turned to glare at Teyla, he noticed Ronon smirking at the bickering. 'How's those self defence classes going, Rodney?'

That wiped the smirk right off the Satedan's face.

'Oh don't remind me,' Rodney complained. 'My ass is killing me. Say, can we land a little closer to where we're going so I don't have to walk as far?'

'Do I have to explain the concept of stealth to you again?' Sheppard said.

'Yes, let's sneak up on the primitive village, you just want to make me suffer.'

'Works for me,' Ronon said, as the team made their way to the back of the Jumper to collect their gear.

'They may not have your technology, Rodney,' Teyla said, 'but that does not make them primitive.'

'Fine, slightly less advanced then, happy? I still have to walk half a day to get there.'

Sheppard set the cloak for the Jumper and followed his team out. 'First, it's only a few clicks and second, you're the one who detected the power source that we're checking out.'

'Oh, so now it's my fault?!'

'If you're going to whine the entire way, then I'm going to order you to shut up. Now, which direction?'

'You can't order me about like that, I'm a civilian!' Rodney pulled out a handheld scanner and pointed off to his right. 'This way.'

McKay and Teyla began walking away towards the distant village. Ronon looked at Sheppard. 'Can't we just shoot him?'

Sheppard sighed, 'Don't tempt me.'

~ SGA ~

'I still say they were made for each other,' McKay explained as the team walked towards some distant hills.

'Batman and the Catwoman?' Teyla asked. 'And these are _real_ people?'

'No,' Sheppard explained, 'they're fictional characters that McKay here spent too much time fixating over as a kid.'

'Oh, right,' McKay huffed a little, 'like you've never thought about it. Need I remind you of some of our conversations about comics? At least _I've_ stopped reading them.'

'First,' Sheppard held up one finger, 'they're graphic novels and second, what's wrong with reading them?'

Teyla shook her head and looked at Ronon, who just rolled his eyes and kept on walking.

There was a muffled curse as McKay, who was busy studying his scanner, stumbled over a bush.

'Nice trip?' Sheppard asked.

Before McKay was able to answer, Ronon stopped walking and reached for his weapon. 'Sheppard,' he growled.

'Yeah, I see.'

'See what?' Rodney looked up and saw a small group of people emerge from a stand of trees. The group consisted of six people; all of them were armed with long knives or machetes, apart from the youngest two, who were carrying bows. All were dressed in long knee length tunics belted around the middle, soft looking leather trousers and sturdy boots. None of them looked particularly friendly when they spotted Sheppard and his team. 'Oh, that,' Rodney continued. 'Is it asking too much to meet nice friendly slightly less technically advanced natives who don't want to kill us?'

'With the Wraith around?' Ronon said.

'Besides,' Teyla added, 'we don't know if they want to kill us, just because they are armed. We're armed yet we don't want to hurt people.'

'Most people.' Ronon glared in McKay's general direction but luckily, the scientist missed the look.

'Let's play nice, children,' Sheppard said as they continued walking towards the strangers. 'Maybe they know something about Rodney's village.'

'Ten bucks they start shooting at us straight away,' Rodney muttered.

'Hi,' Sheppard halted his team a few feet away from the other group. 'Nice day for a walk.'

A few of the strangers glanced at each other but no one spoke.

_Okay_, Sheppard thought.

'We're explorers,' he tried again, 'we're exploring. Don't suppose you know of anything interesting to explore?'

'Why don't you just ask them for a map of the stars and a tour guide, while you're at it?' McKay asked.

'Rodney, shut up!'

'Greetings,' Teyla stepped forward, 'we mean you no harm. I am Teyla Emmagan, these are my friends,' Teyla introduced each team member in turn. 'And you would be . . ?'

Two of the men in the armed group nudged a third. With a look of resignation, he stepped forward. 'Forric, m'name is Forric.'

'Hello,' Teyla smiled at Forric, 'there is no need to be afraid of us.'

'I'm not afraid!' Forric blurted out. 'I'm not!'

'Of course you're not,' Teyla replied soothingly, 'but I am sure you don't meet strangers very often. I know I was surprised when I first met my friends.'

'You were?' Sheppard said, then he caught Teyla's look. 'Yes, yes you were, but then we became great friends, right guys?' He turned and glared at Ronon and McKay, who decided to play along and mumbled in the affirmative.

'We have come a long way,' Teyla continued. 'Do you know of a place we could stay for the night? We would love to learn more about your people and perhaps trade.'

'Trade?' The older of the bow wielding members in the group looked interested at the thought. 'It has been a long time since we saw traders, what would you trade?'

It wasn't until she spoke that Sheppard realised it was a young girl, since each of the strangers had short hair, hidden under cloth caps.

'Quiet, Sharra,' Forric hissed.

'Food, supplies, information,' Sheppard addressed the girl. 'We're always looking for new things and trade partners.'

'Yeah, like this lot would have anything of value to trade,' Rodney grumbled.

'Power source, Rodney,' Sheppard muttered as he smiled at the strangers.

'We should take them back to the village, Forric,' Sharra said.

'Sharra!' Forric hissed. 'We can't take all of them.'

'Let the Masters decide,' she said.

'Masters?' Somehow, Sheppard didn't like the sound of that.

Sharra stepped forward to stand next to Forric. 'They are our leaders and advisors in all things. They were appointed in the long ago by the Great Ones in the fight against the Enemy.'

'They must be talking about the Ancestors and the Wraith,' Teyla said.

Sharra looked puzzled. 'I am not familiar with those names.'

'The Great Ones have many names,' Teyla said.

'Yeah, we call them the Ancients,' Sheppard added. 'Cause they're . . . well, ancient.'

Teyla resisted the urge to shake her head. John Sheppard was many things; a great leader, a cunning warrior and most of all a good friend, but she sometimes wished he could try to be like Doctor Weir and be more diplomatic. Many societies in the Pegasus Galaxy idolised the Ancestors and did not take kindly to anyone speaking lightly of them. 'We would be honoured to meet with the Masters. We hope to become friends.'

'We should take them back, Forric, it is getting dark.' Sharra turned and addressed Sheppard's team, 'It can be dangerous after dark. There are many animals that roam at night. This is why we are armed.' The others in her party smiled and nodded in agreement.

McKay caught Teyla's look. 'Yes, yes, they don't want to shoot us, _this time_.'

Forric looked uncertain but in the end agreed with Sharra. 'Follow us,' he muttered.

~ SGA ~

It was almost dark when the group came over the brow of a hill and reached their destination. It was situated at the bottom of a range of low lying hills next to a slow flowing river. Most of the open land was taken up with tilled fields that were just starting to show signs of vegetation. They saw a stone wall about seven feet tall that surrounded the entire village and Sheppard assumed it was some sort of defence against the dangerous animals everyone seemed to avoid. The buildings were all single storey wooden dwellings; they appeared to be empty and dark. All except for one stone building that stood in the middle of the village, this one hummed with voices and energy and with the faint golden glow of candles.

'We should hurry,' Forric said as they began their descent, 'it is evening tithe.'

'Evening tithe?' Sheppard asked.

'Yes,' Sharra explained as everyone increased their pace. 'Every evening we come together to give thanks for the day and share food.'

'Great,' McKay said. 'I'm starving.'

'Always thinking with your stomach,' Ronon said.

'Oh right, like you've ever said no to free food,' McKay snapped back, as Sharra moved to the front of the group, leaving Sheppard and his team to talk amongst themselves.

'It is their religious ceremony, Rodney,' Teyla said. 'You should be more respectful.'

'Fine, whatever, as long as I can eat.'

By this time they were on a road that led to an open wooden barricade, the entrance to the village.

'Looks like you might be too late, Rodney,' Sheppard commented. 'Seems the tithe is over.'

Peering into the gloom of the evening, the team could just make out all the villagers leaving the stone building, carrying with them the source of the golden light in the form of long candles and bundles of what Sheppard assumed was the evening food. Some of the villagers, who were heading towards their homes near the barricade, came to a halt as they noticed the approaching group.

'Forric?' one of them called out. 'Is that you?'

'Yes,' Forric replied. 'We've returned early from the hunt, we've brought . . . ,' he hesitated and looked back at Sheppard, 'we've brought friends.'

Sheppard stepped forward and put on his best "aw shucks we're just glad to be here" smile. 'Hi.'

The villagers murmured and looked anxiously at each other. No one seemed all that happy to see them; it was like meeting Forric's group all over again.

_A less well adjusted person might start to take offense at the constant lack of welcome_, Sheppard thought.

Sharra and Forric walked over to the villagers and began talking to them quietly.

Sheppard looked back at his team who were loosely surrounded by Forric's hunting party, Teyla was watching the villagers, trying to read their body language and gauge their intentions, Ronon was glaring out into the darkening night, always on the look out for any danger and Rodney . . . Rodney was being Rodney, he was sighing impatiently and shuffling from foot to foot.

He caught Sheppard staring at him, 'Any chance we could move this inside, my feet are killing me and its getting cold. Oh, and did I mention I haven't eaten for hours?'

'All in good time, Rodney,' Teyla murmured.

'Easy for you to say, I happen to have a high metabolism and I'm starving.'

Sheppard saw Sharra nod at someone and pat their arm before returning to the waiting group. 'It is agreed, we will take you to the Masters.'

'Finally,' Rodney grumbled as he pushed his way forward. 'Don't suppose there's any food left to eat?'

Sharra looked surprised at the question. 'I don't know.'

Ever the diplomatic one Teyla smiled at Sharra. 'Don't mind Doctor McKay, he is looking forward, as we all are, to meeting the Masters.'

Sharra smiled at the Athosian and gestured for the team to follow her towards the central stone building.

Sheppard moved next to Teyla and spoke quietly, 'Some days I don't know what we'd do without you.'

Teyla smiled and looked sideways at Sheppard. 'Probably spend more time imprisoned than you normally do.'

Sheppard just laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Three**

Colonel John Sheppard found his muscles tensing and his steps slowing as they approached the stone building. It was not an unexpected feeling, he always got this way whenever he found himself in an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous situation. Something that happened all too often in his chosen field of work; even before he changed galactic area codes. Of course it didn't help that the people he was here to see liked to call themselves Masters, it rubbed against his rebellious and independent nature just thinking about it, they sounded like some cult of mad geniuses that would take one look at Rodney and ask him to sign up.

Looking backwards he could just notice in the increasing darkness that the wooden gate had been shut for the night.

_That's just great, now I have to worry about exit strategies and potential ambushes while trying to talk to potential mad genius McKay wannabes._

Ronon noticed the direction he was looking in and nodded at Sheppard. The Satedan's hand drifted closer to his gun, no one was going to catch him off guard. Teyla caught the glance between the two men and nodded her acknowledgement; she too shifted her grip on her P90 so that it was more easily accessible if needed. Sheppard smiled to himself, he had a good team here, always on alert and prepared for anything. Which just left him with Doctor Oblivious.

Rodney seemed engrossed in his scanner and it took him several seconds to realise that Sheppard was walking next to him. 'The power source is coming from that building.' McKay pointed towards their destination.

'Figures,' Sheppard said. 'Listen, just be ready for anything.'

McKay looked up from his readings. 'Like what?'

'I dunno, Rodney, that's why they call it anything.'

Rodney looked around; he didn't get it, this place wasn't exactly Wraith Central. 'Hello, primitives remember? What are they gonna do?'

'With you, I'm guessing quite a lot.' Sheppard rolled his shoulders a little and tried to make light of the situation. 'You know it's probably nothing, my spidey senses are just tingling.'

'You know I think Beckett has a cream for that.' McKay felt smug, it wasn't everyday he got the last good line over Sheppard.

'You outta know.'

_Damn_.

'Listen,' Sheppard said, glancing back briefly at the rest of his team, 'if it all hits the fan just follow Ronon and Teyla outta here. I'll be covering our six.'

'So, same old, same old, then,' Rodney joked.

'Pretty much.'

~ SGA ~

During the walk into the village, most of the hunting party melted away, probably returning to their respective homes, John mused, leaving only Sharra and Forric to stand with the rest of Sheppard's team outside the stone building.

'So this is where the Masters live?' Sheppard asked.

'No, this is where they sit in judgement and oversee village matters,' Forric said.

'Like the tithe,' Teyla suggested.

'Yes.' Sharra nodded, happy that these strangers seemed to understand how things worked. 'We turn to them for all our decisions.'

'Even the ones involving new friends?' Sheppard asked.

Sharra looked towards Forric. 'We're. . . ' She cleared her throat nervously. 'We're not used to getting visitors; we're very isolated where we live.'

'But the Masters will know what to do,' Forric said.

'Yes,' Sharra nodded, seeming to take strength from Forric's words. 'They'll know what to do.'

'Then, I guess, we should meet them,' Sheppard said, gesturing for the two villagers to lead the way inside.

~ SGA ~

Forric and Sharra moved into the dark entrance way, followed after a moment by Sheppard, with Rodney right on his heels, Teyla close behind, and Ronon bringing up the rear. Sheppard clicked on the small torch attached to his P90, revealing a narrow passageway.

Sharra turned in surprise at the light. 'What is that?'

'One of the many things we could trade.' Sheppard detached the torch and handed it over to Sharra. He heard Teyla and Ronon turn their torches on, so he wasn't too upset when Sharra moved pass Forric flicking the torch over the walls and ceiling in amazement.

'There is no flame.' Sharra gave a childlike laugh, reminding Sheppard that for all her weapons, she couldn't have been much older than fifteen, as she waved the torch over Forric.

'Sharra!' Forric knocked her arm aside as the beam flashed across his face and into his eyes.

Sharra mumbled her apologies and went to hand the torch back to Sheppard.

'Keep it,' he said. 'Think of it as a gift from a new friend.'

Sharra smiled shyly and moved back in front of the group. 'This way.'

Rodney rolled his eyes. 'Oh great,' he muttered, 'yet another Sheppard groupie.'

'I heard that,' Sheppard said.

The passageway began sloping sharply and the team soon found themselves trailing Sharra and Forric down a windy series of stone steps. The two villagers, who where more familiar with their surroundings, soon disappeared out of sight.

'Just how far down are we?' Sheppard wondered.

'My guess, we're in the equivalent of an underground car park,' McKay replied. 'Or a sub-sub basement.' He flicked his torch over the roughly hewn stone walls. 'You wouldn't think they had the technology to dig this far down.'

'Maybe these people aren't as primitive as you think, Rodney,' said Teyla.

'Oh god!' Rodney stopped in his tracks, almost forcing Teyla and Ronon to run into the back of him. 'I just had a Genii flashback, you don't think –'

'I'm sure that's not the case, Rodney,' Sheppard said, 'but to be on the safe side, everyone stay alert.'

'Are you coming?' Sharra's voice echoed up the steps.

'Yeah, we're right behind you,' Sheppard called back. 'Just remember,' he said quietly so only his team could hear, 'until we think otherwise, everyone play nice. We'll work out what Rodney's energy thing is, then go home. If there is any trade potential with these people, we'll handball the job onto someone else to come back and finish trade agreements.'

'I doubt they would have anything to offer to us,' Rodney said.

'We've thought that before and look how wrong we were,' Sheppard replied. 'Genii, remember?'

Rodney gave an exaggerated shudder at the thought.

The team continued walking down the steps. Gradually, below them, they saw a golden glow beginning to lighten the stone walls. Turning one last corner, the team stepped into a large cave like room. Stone steps ran up each side of the walls, surrounding a small circular space in the centre of the cavern. You could perhaps seat a hundred or so people comfortably, even more if you considered the floor space itself.

It all kind of reminded Sheppard of the old Roman arenas where gladiators fought and died for the entertainment of others.

_Oh, now there is a great image to work with,_ he thought. _Not foreboding or anything._

Lit wooden torches were scattered around the dirt floor of the arena and accounted for the glow they had seen before.

Rodney, Teyla and Ronon moved up to stand next to Sheppard as he watched Forric and Sharra walk over to three people standing at the far side of the arena. At a guess, Sheppard assumed these would be the Masters. One woman and two men, all in their mid to late fifties and dressed in cleaner, more better made clothing than the villagers he had so far seen. The woman looked sharply at Sheppard and his team as Forric and Sharra were talking to them.

'Huh.' Rodney glanced down at his scanner. 'See that column in the middle there?'

Sheppard looked towards a small fluted column about four feet tall that was placed almost in the exact centre of the arena. 'Energy source?' he guessed.

'Got it in one,' Rodney confirmed. 'I have got to get a look at that.'

'All in good time, Rodney,' Sheppard said. 'First, we meet the head honchos then we get permission to play with the energy source.'

'Oh well that could take forever,' Rodney whined. 'You know what people can be like with their _precious_ artefacts.'

'Like you are whenever Zelenka messes around in your lab?' Sheppard asked.

'That's different!'

'Right.' Sheppard watched as the natives began walking towards them. 'Course it is, mind you,' he leant towards Rodney, 'if you were to accidently scan the artefact while we're talking, as long as these Masters don't find out . . .'

'Right, right, gotcha.' Rodney gave Sheppard an exaggerated wink.

Sheppard and his team began walking towards the middle of the arena. Out of the corner of his eye, Sheppard noted Rodney dropping his hand down alongside his leg, effectively hiding the scanner from sight. A few muted beeps indicated that McKay was already beginning yet another scan.

The two groups met up and assessed each other. Sharra and Forric had respectfully removed their caps and were standing behind the Masters. The woman stood in the middle with her two associates standing to either side of her; it was obvious that she was the main one in charge. She tilted her head to one side and looked intently at Sheppard and his team.

'It is not often that we have strangers,' she said, addressing Teyla. 'In fact,' she turned her head to address one of the men, 'it has been many a year since we have been last visited, is it not?'

The man to her right bobbed his head in acknowledgement. 'I was barely married to my dear missed wife,' he said.

'Then we are truly honoured to be the first in such a long time,' Teyla said.

'You seem so very young to be a Master of your group,' the woman commented.

Teyla smiled at the misunderstanding. 'I am not the leader of this group.'

Sheppard raised a hand and lazily waved it, from where it had been resting on the butt of his P90. 'That would be me.'

The woman looked a little shocked at the suggestion. 'A man,' she peered closely at him, 'and with short hair.'

Sheppard glanced back when he heard McKay's snort of laughter. Both Teyla and Ronon looked slightly amused also. It was only now that Sheppard realised that all three Masters had long hair, the woman's was tidily wound up in a bun, while the man on her right had his pulled back in a ponytail and the one on her left, when he turned his head to address Forric and Sharra, showed a thick plait snaking past his shoulders.

'Well,' Sheppard said, 'I guess we do things a little differently back home, but that doesn't mean we can't all still be friends, right?'

The woman thought this over, then nodded her head. 'Perhaps you show wisdom after all. I am Akara,' she turned and indicated the man first to her left then to her right, 'this is Bain and my second is Otha.'

Both men nodded a greeting.

'Howdy,' Sheppard said. 'I'm Colonel John Sheppard; this is Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex and Doctor Rodney McKay.'

Teyla nodded her head in greeting, Rodney waved a distracted hello, as he was still trying to secretly scan the artefact, and Ronon grunted politely.

'Forric tells us you are explorers looking for trade?' Akara said. 'Have you come far?'

'What is it like where you are from?' Otha asked.

'We've come a long way and it's not that much different from here.' Sheppard decided to gloss over the concept of space travel and advanced civilisations until he knew exactly where they stood with these people. Best to let them think his team was just another group of villagers from somewhere way over the mountains.

'You must be hungry,' Akara said.

'Yes!' Rodney looked up and realised that everyone was looking at him after his outburst. He casually put his hands in his pockets, hiding the scanner. 'I mean, yes?'

Akara smiled and gestured for everyone to follow her. 'Then it would be our pleasure to ask you to join us for our portion of the evening tithe.'

'The pleasure is all ours.' John smiled back.

~ SGA ~

It turned out there were several rooms connected to the back of the arena that could double as anything from meetings rooms to guest quarters. It was in one such room that Sheppard and his team found themselves seated around a large table eating a simple supper of bread and stew. Bain, Forric and Sharra had all been dismissed to return to their respective homes. Akara and Otha sat along one side of the table, Sheppard and Teyla opposite them. McKay sat at one end and Ronon sat at the other, facing the doorway and on alert.

Akara was turning Sheppard's torch about in her hands. 'I have never seen such a device,' she said. 'What does it do?'

Sheppard leant across the table and took the torch from Akara. He depressed the switch and shone it across the nearby wall before turning it off and handing it back. 'It's a torch.'

'We have torches,' Akara said.

John looked over at the lit torches that hung about the room. 'Sure, but ours don't go out in the wind and rain,' he shrugged and smiled, 'something to think about when trading.'

Akara sniffed politely and delicately dipped her spoon into her bowl. 'Perhaps,' she said before sipping at the liquid.

'I have never seen such a torch.' Otha said, 'is it common in your village?'

Sheppard nodded. 'That and more. What would you be interested in?'

Otha opened his mouth to speak but Akara spoke over the top of him,'We have not yet decided if we want to trade.'

Otha ducked his head and returned to eating.

Teyla exchanged a glance with Sheppard. Things had not progressed as smoothly as she had assumed. Akara seemed to want to block any talk of friendship and trade whenever it was brought up.

It was Rodney who finally broke the awkward silence, 'So, how old is this place?'

Sheppard looked over at Rodney. Where was this coming from?

Rodney noted the glance from his friend. 'What? I'm interested in architecture.'

Now Teyla and Ronon were glancing at him in disbelief.

Rodney dropped a piece of bread he was using to sop up the last of his stew. 'What? I am! It looks old; I bet it's really old.'

Otha looked glad at the change of subject. 'It has always been; it was made for us in the long ago to protect us from the Enemy.'

'That long ago, huh?' Sheppard said. 'Makes sense, I guess. Hide underground when the Wraith came culling.'

'I am not familiar with this Wraith,' Otha said.

'Big bad guys, you don't want to meet 'em. They suck, literally.'

'That, that column thing we passed in the middle of the arena,' McKay asked. 'What is it?'

Ah, that explained McKay's sudden interest in all things architectural. It was his subtle attempt to gain information about the artefact.

'Why do you ask such things?' Akara asked, suspiciously.

'Well, it looks different from the rest of the building,' Rodney said. 'I was just wondering . . .' He trailed off and returned to scrapping the last of food from his bowl.

'It has always been here,' Otha explained. 'It was a gift from long ago. We use it in our ceremonies.'

'Ceremonies?' Teyla asked.

'Yes, we –'

'I do not see the reason for this questioning?' Akara cut off Otha again before he could say too much.

'Just trying to get to know each other better.' Sheppard said. 'Just trying to be friendly.'

Akara folded her hands in front of her on the table and seemed to think for a few minutes. Nodding to herself she smiled tightly. 'Of course, forgive us; it has been a difficult few days. Your timing is fortuitous we are planning a ceremony soon. Perhaps you would like to attend?'

'Uh,' Sheppard looked over at Teyla. 'Sure, why not. Although we have to contact our people, let them know we're okay.'

'Of course,' Akara stood up and smoothed back her hair. 'But you cannot go tonight; it is dangerous outside after dark. Stay and you can contact your people tomorrow.'

Sheppard took the hint that the meal was over and stood also. Now came the hard part, weighing up how important this new potential alliance might be against missing a scheduled call back to Atlantis. They weren't supposed to contact Elizabeth for another few hours. By the time morning came and they had trekked back to the Jumper . . . if this artefact was as interesting as McKay was making it out to be, she'd forgive him right? Sheppard sighed, like he had a choice at the moment. Getting everyone out without hurting the villagers just wasn't worth the trouble. Easier to just let Weir ream him out when they got back home, wouldn't be the first time.

'Why not,' he said. 'I'm always up for a good ceremony.'

Akara nodded. 'Good, Otha will show you were you can rest.'

~ SGA ~

Sheppard and his team looked around the small room where they would be spending the night. It was empty except for two smoking torches and a long bench.

'Couldn't they have found a room with a bed?' Rodney complained.

'I've slept in worse,' Ronon noted.

'Of course you have,' Rodney replied. 'But you don't have my bad back.'

'Is there nothing you won't complain about?' Ronon asked as he walked over to one corner and sat down in it.

Teyla sat down on the bench and began to loosen the laces of her boots.

Sheppard unclipped his P90 before unzipping his tactical vest. 'At least the door isn't locked.'

McKay looked across at Sheppard then strode over and tried the handle. It opened silently, letting the scientist poke his head around the door before he stepped back inside and closed it again. 'Huh,' he said. 'They actually left it unlocked.'

'Where would we go?' Ronon asked.

'Good point, although,' Rodney clicked his fingers, 'we could go back out and have a better look at the artefact.'

'Tomorrow, Rodney,' Sheppard said as he lay down on the floor and placed his vest behind his head as a makeshift pillow. 'You and Ronon can play tourist while Teyla and I go back to the Jumper.'

Ronon rolled his eyes. 'Why do I have to stay with McKay?'

'To stop him from doing something stupid, of course.'

'Hey!' Rodney protested at the need for a chaperone before looking over and seeing Teyla already asleep on the bench. 'Why does she get the bench and I don't?'

Sheppard sighed. 'Because we're gentlemen.'

'Did I mention I have a bad back?'

Sheppard placed an arm over his eyes. 'The bench won't be any softer than the floor.'

'Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realise you were a chiropractor in your spare time.'

'McKay, go to sleep.'

Silence enveloped the room for a few minutes, only broken by Rodney's grumbling as he tossed and turned on the floor trying to find a comfortable spot. 'I can't sleep,' he finally said.

'Have you tried?' Sheppard asked.

'What do you think I've been doing?'

'I could stun him,' Ronon said from his corner of the room.

Silence followed Rodney's shocked yelp. 'Sheppard?' he finally asked.

'I'm thinking about it,' Sheppard replied.

'Seriously?'

'Keep talking and find out.'

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Rodney turned his back on the rest of the team. A few muted beeps came from Rodney's direction as he fiddled with his scanner, finally he spoke. 'Do you think Elizabeth will let us stay longer?'

Giving up any pretence of sleeping, Sheppard sat up. 'Depends on how interesting that artefact of yours turns out to be.'

Rodney sat up also and turned to face Sheppard. 'Well, I can tell you it's definitely Ancient and it has been activated at some time.'

'So the Ancients were here.'

'Or someone with the gene, yes.'

'So what does it do?' Ronon asked.

Rodney shrugged. 'No idea, it's sort of on standby at the moment. I'd get a better idea of what it's capable of whenever it powers up again.'

Teyla opened her eyes and asked. 'Like at the ceremony?'

'Thought you were asleep,' Sheppard said.

Teyla smiled. 'I was finding it difficult with all this talking.'

'Yeah, sorry about that.' Sheppard glared in Rodney's general direction. 'How about we worry about tomorrow when it comes and get some sleep.'

Rodney huffed, 'Fine, whatever.'

Everyone settled back down again and tried to rest.

'Maybe it's a weapon,' Ronon commented.

Sheppard sighed in frustration; it didn't look like anyone was planning to actually get to sleep anytime soon. 'The Ancient device?' he asked. 'That would be nice, might also explain why Akara and her people don't know who the Wraith are. What do you think, McKay?'

'Uh, hello, was no one listening when I said I didn't know what it was?' Rodney asked. 'And what kind of weapon works underground? More than likely it's some sort of shield to hide the villagers. Like the planet with all those kids.'

'M7G-677,' Sheppard corrected, 'And maybe they take the weapon above ground to use. Or it's like a missile in a silo just waiting until needed.'

'You just gotta automatically go for the weapon angle, don't you?' Rodney asked Sheppard as one of the torches gutted out.

Sheppard shrugged in the increasing gloom. 'So?'

'So? So, I don't know, just try thinking outside your little military box occasionally.'

'It might be a communications device,' Teyla spoke up. 'Or receptacle of information, like your computers.'

'See,' Rodney said, 'like that, that is thinking outside the box. Probably completely wrong but at least Teyla is trying.'

'Thank you, Rodney.'

McKay missed the sarcasm in Teyla's voice by several miles. 'You're welcome.'

'Am I the only one who thinks these people are a bit weird?' Sheppard asked after a few minutes silence.

'Oh good, it's not just me,' Rodney said. 'That Akara woman, she's a bit . . .'

'Arrogant?' Sheppard suggested.

'Devious,' Ronon decided.

'Cautious,' Teyla countered.

'I was going to go with weird, but all those others, too,' Rodney said.

'I think she is just wary of strangers,' Teyla said. 'They admitted it themselves it's been many years since someone came to the village.'

'Yeah and what's with that?' Sheppard asked. 'We flew over three other villages looking for Rodney's device. Do none of them trade with each other?'

'Maybe they didn't like dealing with these Masters.' Rodney suggested. 'Would you if you had the choice?'

Sheppard sighed as the last torch went out leaving the room in darkness. 'I'll add it to tomorrow's list of things to find out. Right after I contact Elizabeth, now everyone get to sleep.'

'It is awfully dark in here,' Rodney's voice spoke out.

'Rodney!' Three voices snapped back at him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Four**

The next morning, it turned out that Sheppard and Teyla didn't need to go all the way back to the clearing where Sharra and Forric had found them. Which was a relief as John still hadn't worked out how to lose the small hunting party that was to escort them back before they hit the Puddle Jumper. The last thing he wanted to explain to them was the wonders of flying and Ancient technology, especially since he still wasn't convinced they were going to end up as friends, let alone trading partners.

As they were leaving the stairs and exiting the building they'd spent the night in, Sheppard's radio crackled to life.

' –_nel Sheppard, please come in,.' _Chuck's weary voice could be faintly heard.

John pulled out his radio from a vest pocket and spoke into it. 'Sheppard here.'

'_Oh thank god! I'll get Doctor Weir.'_

Sheppard wasn't sure if the relief in Chuck's voice was for the confirmation that they were still alive or because he could finally stop broadcasting the same message over and over again.

Sheppard nodded to Teyla and then looked in the direction of where Sharra and another man were standing. He assumed they were some of the party that was to escort them into the woods. Teyla acknowledged that Sheppard wanted her to distract them as he talked with Atlantis. He walked away a few steps for privacy and waited.

'_John?'_ Elizabeth's voice rang out.

Sheppard dialled down the volume slightly before replying. 'I know we broke curfew, but I have a good excuse.'

'_Oh, really?'_

Okay she didn't sound _too_ pissed.

'Rodney found an energy signature. We traced it back to a village and were invited to stay the night. It seems that it was too dangerous to travel back to the Jumper in the dark, but Teyla and I were just about to go back and contact you when you got there first. Don't suppose you've only just starting trying to find us?'

'_Oh no, we've only been working on contacting you for a few hours.'_

Sheppard winced a little at the unspoken accusation. He knew she worried whenever Atlantis lost contact with a team and his seemed in the habit of doing it more than most.

'_An energy source you said. Like a ZPM?'_

'It's some sort of artefact, Rodney doesn't really know what it does or what it runs on; the locals aren't exactly the friendliest we've ever met. He's taken a few scans but he seems to think it's on some sort of standby at the moment.'

Silence from Elizabeth as she mulled over his report, then, _'So do I presume you have some sort of plan?'_

Sheppard grinned a little. 'So we're not grounded?'

'_Why do I get the impression that even if I did ground you, you'd just wait until my back was turned and climb out your bedroom window to do what you wanted anyway?'_

'Elizabeth, you sound like you've had some experience in these things.'

'_Never mind about me. You obviously want to find out more about this artefact._'

'Well the locals said something about a ceremony they plan on performing soon. We got the impression it might involve the Ancient device.'

'_Hmm.'_

Sheppard could almost hear Elizabeth's mind working overtime as she considered his plan and all its potential outcomes. How might this impact Atlantis? They've been here before with the gift of Ancient technology dangled in front of them only to have it snatched back at the last second. Was it worth the effort; was it worth trying to ally themselves with these people?

Sheppard had as sudden idea. 'Did I mention their leader doesn't seem all that impressed with me? She thought Teyla was in charge.'

Elizabeth laughed quietly. _'They seem very intelligent. I want _regular_ reports from now on or I'll send Lorne to drag your grounded butt home, clear?'_

Sheppard nodded. 'Crystal.'

'_Apart from this device, do you see any potential with these people?'_

'Hard to say, they play things pretty close to the vest. Hopefully, after this ceremony, we might know more.'

Elizabeth sighed. _'Be careful, and contact me again in eighteen hours, otherwise. . .'_

'Yeah, yeah, I know grounded for a week.'

'_At least. Atlantis out.'_

~ SGA ~

Sheppard tucked his radio back into a pocket and walked over to Teyla.

'What was that?' Sharra asked about the radio.

'Hmm?' Sheppard acted like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Sharra pointed at Sheppard's vest. 'That thing, the black thing that was in your hand.'

Sheppard smiled ruefully, Sharra had sharp eyes. He pulled out the radio and handed it over to her. 'It's just a radio, a way of communicating with our people.'

Sharra turned the device around in her hand. 'So why did you need to go back to your village today?'

'Well –' That was the problem with lies; they tended to accumulate and trip you up when you least expected it.

'We were not sure if it would work this far away from our people.' Teyla explained.

Sheppard nodded his gratitude at Teyla's quick thinking.

'Do you still need to go back to your village?' Sharra asked, handing the radio back to the Colonel.

Sheppard shook his head as he secured the radio back in his vest. 'Not any more, no.'

'Oh,' Sharra looked disappointed. She turned to the other man with her. 'Please tell Forric and the others we will not be leaving today.'

The man grunted an acknowledgement and left.

'Guess that gives you the day off.' Sheppard said.

'Oh no,' Sharra shook her head. 'I am old enough to have worth now. I have duties to attend to.' She turned to move away before changing her mind and turning back. 'What about you, what will you do?'

'Do?' Sheppard looked to Teyla before shrugging. 'I dunno, hang around here for a few days, maybe. Learn more about your people. I hear there is a ceremony coming up soon; maybe we'll stick around for that.'

'The ceremony?' Sharra looked very surprised. 'You are staying?'

'Yeah, why?' Sheppard picked up on Sharra's mood, she didn't seem exactly happy at the thought. 'What's it about?'

'I could not say; I was never old enough to attend before. This is to be my first year.'

'Well, maybe we could sit together,' Sheppard said with a smile.

Sharra smiled a little sadly, suddenly looking older than her years. 'Perhaps.' She took a deep breath and stood up very straight. 'It was an honour to have met someone from another village. You will tell the others I said that, even the one who talks all the time, Rodney McKay?'

Sheppard laughed a little at Sharra's description of Rodney. 'Sure.'

Teyla nodded also. 'It was an honour to have met you too, Sharra.'

Looking like she was almost holding back tears, Sharra sniffed and impulsively hugged both Sheppard and Teyla before running away.

'These people just keep getting weirder and weirder,' Sheppard said out loud.

'Maybe it is just you?' Teyla told him, jokingly.

'Maybe.' Sheppard nodded back at the building they had only recently exited. 'Better get back and relieve Ronon of his babysitting duties.'

~ SGA ~

'Are you telling me you didn't hear it _this_ time?'

Sheppard could hear Rodney arguing with Ronon before they even finished walking down the stairs. Ronon's rumbling indistinct reply echoed back towards them as Sheppard and Teyla walked into the cavernous room.

The mismatched pair was standing over to one side of the arena as Rodney was taking snap shots of a wall.

'I didn't pick you as a shutterbug, McKay,' Sheppard said as he walked towards them.

'What?' Rodney turned about and stared at Teyla and Sheppard. 'You forget something?'

'Elizabeth contacted us via radio.' Teyla explained. 'We had no need to return to the Jumper.'

'Oh.' Rodney fidgeted with the small camera he was holding. 'That's good, I guess. So, are we staying?'

'Elizabeth has given us the green light, for now,' Sheppard replied. 'As long as we keep in regular contact and don't get into trouble.'

Ronon crossed his arms. 'First part shouldn't be too hard. You don't need me watching him anymore?'

'Hey, I'm right here you know,' Rodney protested as Sheppard shook his head.

'Good, he hasn't shut up all morning and I was thinking about stunning him just for some peace and quiet.' Ronon gave a wolfish grin at his friends before walking over to the stone steps and sitting down on them.

'Still right here!' Rodney defiantly took a blurry photo of Ronon.

'What's with the happy snaps?' Sheppard asked.

'Oh!' Rodney rocked back and forth on his heels smugly. 'I took your advice from last night.'

'You did?' Sheppard tried to think what he could have possibly have said that inspired this. 'What was that again?'

'Tourist!' Rodney exclaimed as he began scrolling through the photos he had already taken. 'You said to play tourist. So this morning, I thought what better way to document our stay than. . .' He held out the camera.

Teyla took the camera and held it up so both she and Sheppard could see what was displayed. On the small screen was a photo of a less than amused looking Ronon standing in front of the Ancient artefact.

'Very clever, Rodney,' Teyla said.

Sheppard pointed out, 'Except you can't really _see_ the artefact.'

'Keep looking,' Rodney said.

Teyla scrolled forward to reveal more photos. In each successive one, Ronon seemed to disappear to one side as Rodney's pictures concentrated more and more on the device. Until the third to last photo showed a close up of the Ancient device and only the tip of Ronon's elbow showing that he was still there.

'And,' Rodney patted his pants pocket, 'still taking scans. Nothing new as far as I can tell, but you never know.'

Teyla handed Rodney back his camera. 'Will this help identify the artefact?' she asked.

Rodney shrugged. 'Once we get back to Atlantis, I should be able to compare these to the database and see if I can find a match.'

'Until then,' Sheppard added. 'We'll ask around and see what happens at the ceremony.'

'And after?' Teyla wondered.

'Go home and take the rest of the week off.'

'What are you doing?' Akara's voice rang out.

Turning, the three watched as Akara walked towards them.

'Dragon Lady at three o'clock,' Rodney muttered.

'Hi,' Sheppard smiled at the Master. 'Just taking in the sights of your beautiful village.'

'Did you not need to return to your own village for instructions?' Akara wondered.

'Well we were.' Sheppard felt Ronon's presence at his shoulder. The Satedan had silently approached in case of trouble. 'But then they contacted us instead.'

Akara frowned. 'There are more of you here?'

Oh, what the hell? The chance of Sharra keeping the radio secret was pretty slim.

'We used a communications device to contact them. Wasn't sure if it would work over these distances,' Sheppard glanced at Teyla thankful yet again for her quick explanation earlier, 'but it did. So I talked to my boss and let her know we were okay, she said "hi" by the way.'

'She?'

'Yeah, guess we're not all that different after all.' Sheppard tried out his 'aw shucks' smile on Akara to little effect.

Akara sniffed. 'Perhaps, perhaps not.'

_Man, this woman could play hardball, what was her problem?_

'You know a radio could be handy for your hunting parties. It lets you keep in touch in case of problems,' Sheppard pointed out. 'Just something to consider.'

'I'm sure it could,' Akara replied. 'Although I wonder why you seem so eager to want to help us.'

'Help you?' Sheppard asked. 'Isn't that what friends do?'

'Friends, yes, but we are not friends yet.'

'But perhaps we can be,' Teyla said. 'Friends that help each other.'

'Perhaps,' Akara seemed to be reluctantly opening up to the suggestion of trading and friendship nodded at the concept, 'perhaps.'

A low painful moan drifted out across the arena. It seemed to be emanating from the region of the rooms they had so recently left.

'That!' Rodney exclaimed at Ronon. 'See, I told you I heard something.' He turned to Sheppard and Teyla. 'You heard that too, right?'

'Yeah.' Sheppard felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as another groan ratcheted up into a wailing scream before petering off again. 'What the hell was that?'

'That?' Akara had the grace to look a little embarrassed. 'That is nothing.'

Ronon hand hovered over his holstered gun. 'Doesn't sound like nothing to me.'

Sheppard looked around his team to see them all tense and alert. Teyla glanced in his direction before reaching out to gently pat Rodney on the arm, causing him to jump at the touch. Seems Sheppard wasn't the only one to be startled by the unexpected noise.

Akara sighed. 'It is a villager;' she explained. 'He is not well.'

'Is it contagious?' Rodney wondered as he nervously fiddled with the camera. 'Because we were staying here last night, if it's contagious I think we have a right to know.'

'You know we have medicines and doctors back home,' Sheppard began to suggest.

Akara held up a hand to stall Sheppard's words. 'He is not contagious, do not worry. We have everything in hand.'

'No offense, but it doesn't sound much in hand to me.'

'Me neither,' Ronon said.

'I'll third that,' Rodney added.

'Perhaps this is one instance where we can help you,' Teyla said to Akara.

Akara shook her head. 'There is no need, we will conduct the ceremony tonight and he will be cured.'

'Just like that, huh?' Sheppard asked.

Akara nodded. 'As you say, just like that.'

Rodney looked thoughtfully at the artefact. 'Ceremony, huh?' he muttered.

'Now I have duties to attend,' Akara bowed her head slightly at Teyla and then almost as an afterthought at Sheppard. 'You will dine with me tonight before the ceremony?'

'We're still invited?' Sheppard asked.

'Of course, you are our guests.'

'Wouldn't miss it.' Sheppard watched as Akara walked away. 'Thoughts?' he asked everyone.

'It must be some sort of healing device,' Rodney said excitedly.

'Then why haven't the villagers used it already?' Teyla said.

'How should I know?' Rodney shrugged. 'Maybe they're superstitious and only use it on a full moon or something.'

'Yeah, that must be it,' Ronon said.

Rodney sighed, 'Look, I'll know more when we attend this ceremony. Until then it's all speculation.'

'Until then,' Sheppard said, 'we have time on our hands and nothing to do.'

Rodney held up the camera. 'We could still play tourist.'

Teyla nodded in agreement. 'Get to know more about these people.'

'Check out the defensive perimeter and escape routes,' Ronon added.

Sheppard nodded at the suggestions. 'Sort out Plan B just in case.'

'And Plan B is again?' Rodney asked.

'Get the hell out of Dodge and back to the Jumper,' Sheppard explained as they began walking towards the staircase. 'Same Plan B we always have.'

'Ah, Plan B,' Rodney said, smiling, 'my favourite plan.'

'Thought that was our only plan,' Ronon joked.

'Some days it is,' Sheppard acknowledged that statement with a smile. 'So until we need Plan B I suggest we go out and enjoy the rest of the day, Colonel's orders.'

'Works for me, as long as I don't have to spend all of it with McKay.' Ronon walked to the base of the stairs. 'Coming?'

Teyla smiled in amusement at Rodney's yelp of protest and followed the Satedan up the stairs.

'Why does he always do that?' Rodney complained.

Sheppard walked next to Rodney as they followed behind the rest of his team. 'Maybe you intimidate him.'

'Really?'

'No, not really.'

Rodney was silent for a few minutes. 'Hey have you wondered why no one has commented on our weapons. They just let us walk around their village armed and no one says a thing.'

Sheppard didn't want to admit to Rodney that he had thought the same thing. 'Maybe they're not that impressed by our weapons.'

'Not impressed, have you seen what they have? How could they not be impressed? All they have are bows and machetes.'

'Exactly, to them, long metal sticks just aren't all that impressive. They haven't seen what we can do with them,' Sheppard said.

'That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.'

'Really,' Sheppard and Rodney disappeared up the stairs, their voices echoing back. 'Even more stupid than blowing up a solar system by accident?'

'You'll never let me forget that will you?'

~ SGA ~

Later that evening Sheppard, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon sat in last night's dining room waiting for Akara.

'She's late,' Rodney stated for the third time as he drummed his fingers on the table top.

'She is busy,' Teyla corrected him, 'I'm sure she has many things to do before the ceremony.'

'Busy, late, whatever. The least she could have done was send us some food, I'm starving.'

'I'm surprised.' Ronon sat at the head of the table, flipping and catching one of his many knives.

'Relax, Rodney,' Sheppard said. 'I'm sure they won't start the ceremony without us, we're practically guests of honour.'

Rodney's drumming stopped. 'We don't have to dress up or anything, do we? Wear some stupid feathered headdress? I look ridiculous in feathers, they make me sneeze.'

'Well that's a shame,' Sheppard leant forwards and rested his forearms on the table, 'I was planning on a fancy dress party back at Atlantis. I wanted us all to dress up as the Village People. You were going to be the Indian Chief, now . . .'

'What?' Before Rodney could gather his thoughts to work out whether or not Sheppard was being serious, the door opened and Otha walked in.

'Excuse me,' the Master said as two other men walked in behind him carrying trays of food. 'Akara gives her apologies. She wanted to be here for evening tithe but something has come up and she cannot attend.'

'That's alright,' Sheppard said as plates and bowls were distributed around the table. 'I'm sure ceremonies can be hard to organise at short notice.'

'Indeed.' Otha seemed pleased that Sheppard understood.

'Does Akara require any assistance?' Teyla asked before picking up a spoon and dipping it into her food.

'Oh no,' Otha shook his head. 'It is a minor thing that will be sorted out shortly.'

Ronon and Rodney were already eating as Sheppard broke a bread roll apart. 'How is the sick villager?'

'Sleeping,' Otha said. 'I confess it will be good to see him better.'

'What exactly is wrong with him?' Sheppard asked, sipping on the broth in his bowl.

Otha smiled. 'All will be explained at the ceremony.'

'Yeah about that. . . ' Sheppard looked up as a dull thud could be heard across the table. 'What's wrong with Rodney?' he asked seeing the stocky doctor take a header into his food bowl.

For that matter what was wrong with him, he seemed sluggish. Something wasn't right, why was Teyla slumped over the table? Why couldn't he seem to be able to move his arms?

'What?' he tried to say but the words couldn't escape his mouth.

The last thing he heard as the world turned black was the sound of Ronon's gun charging.


	5. Chapter 5

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Five**

'I told you! Didn't I tell you they would try and kill us?' Rodney McKay paced back and forth in the improvised cell he had woken up in with Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla. 'Admittedly, they didn't do it straight away, which was nice for once. But on the other hand, it just made us lower our guard a little.'

'Will you just shut up and find a way to get us out?' Ronon growled as he tested the strength of the wooden bars.

'Uh, hello,' Rodney waved a hand in the direction of the door. 'Low tech locks, if it was electronic, I'd have us out of here in minutes,' he patted his empty pockets, 'if I had my backpack and all my tools of course, might have taken a bit longer otherwise, but it's all a moot point because I have neither my tools nor the lock picking skills to do the job. Why don't you try your brute strength?'

Ronon slammed himself up against the bars in frustration. 'What do you think I've been doing?'

'Oh,' Rodney looked disappointed. 'Perhaps you could try again?'

Ronon growled in Rodney's general direction before walking over to where Teyla was sitting with an unconscious Sheppard. 'How is he?'

Teyla shrugged, 'I do not know.' She looked out from their prison cell to the empty arena before them. 'Why did they do this, I thought we were becoming friends?'

Rodney moved across the small cell to stand with the others. 'Maybe they do this with to all their new friends,' He clicked his fingers at a sudden thought. 'Could this be some sort of hazing ritual, getting to know the new guys?'

'Hazing ritual?' Teyla asked.

Sheppard's groan prevented Rodney from trying to explain.

'Colonel Sheppard?' Teyla said.

'Oh, thank god.' Rodney crouched down near Sheppard.

'What?' Sheppard opened his eyes and found he was looking up at Teyla's upside down face. He turned his head sideways and realised he was laying on the ground with his head on Teyla's lap. 'Is McKay hogging the bench?'

'I wish,' Rodney said, helping Sheppard to sit up. 'The locals screwed us.'

Sheppard looked around and saw they were all in a small wooden cell that was situated on the edge of the underground chamber which housed the Ancient artefact.

'Looks like they drugged the food,' Ronon said.

Sheppard ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, well, that would explain the weird taste. 'Looks like,' he agreed.

Rodney looked at him with a pleading expression. 'Tell me you have a plan.'

'I've only just woken up.' Sheppard reached behind him and grabbed a bar of the cell to pull himself up with. 'How long was I out?'

Ronon reached out and grabbed Sheppard's free arm to help him stand. 'Don't know. They took all our gear.'

'They took everything including our watches, backpacks, vests _and_ weapons.' Rodney said.

Sheppard sighed. 'Guess they were more impressed with our guns than you thought.' He looked to Ronon. 'They get all your knives?'

Ronon grinned. 'They missed a few.'

Sheppard wasn't surprised. He had seen how many knives the Satedan secreted about his person. 'Good, we might need them later on.' He looked over to the one member of his team still sitting on the floor. 'Teyla?'

She smiled back at him sadly and stood up. 'I am sorry, Colonel, I thought these people were going to be allies.'

'Not your fault,' Sheppard told her. 'Not everyone can be as good as the Athosians.'

Teyla inclined her head slightly at the compliment. 'I was the first to wake,' she said, 'no one has come into the arena since then.'

'What are the chances we've been out long enough for Elizabeth to send help?' asked Rodney.

'And give Lorne the satisfaction of rescuing us?' Sheppard said. 'I'd rather depend on ourselves to get us out of here.'

'Well, unless you've been holding out on us with unknown cat burglar skills and a spare bobby pin, I think we might have to . . .' Rodney trailed off as faint voices could be heard coming from the stairs.

'Guess we didn't miss the ceremony after all.' Ronon said.

'I'm beginning to think we _are_ the ceremony,' Sheppard replied.

All four moved to the front of the cell to observe what looked like the entire population of the village slowly walking down the stairs.

'I don't suppose this is just the evening tithe?' Rodney hoped as they watched the villagers quietly move about the arena and take their places on the stone benches.

'Do you think we're that lucky?' Sheppard asked.

'No, not really.'

'Me neither.'

A slow steady drumbeat started up out of nowhere.

'Oh, that's never good,' Rodney said nervously.

The gentle murmurings of the villagers quietened down as everyone sat expectantly, waiting for something to begin.

Movement from Sheppard's right made him turn his head in time to see the Masters walk into the arena.

'Oh my god,' Rodney breathed in shock.

Akara walked in front, closely followed by Otha and Bain. All three had loosened their hair so it flowed down their backs and Akara had dyed hers a dark rich red. But it was the four men following them in an honour guard that had caused Rodney's startled exclamation. These men were wearing what looked like home-made bone masks, similar to what Sheppard had seen Jinto and his friend wearing when he had first met the boys playing on Athos, and each man carried with him a Wraith stunner.

'They're Wraith worshippers.' Ronon snarled.

'Why?' Teyla asked.

'Well,' Sheppard looked across at Teyla to see her wide eyed and shocked expression. 'I can honestly say I never saw this one coming.'

Akara walked alone out to the middle of the arena and raised her right hand. 'Hear me,' she called out. 'Hear the tale of our beginning.'

'We listen,' intoned the villagers.

Rodney crossed his arms. 'Oh this should be good,' he muttered.

'Long ago,' Akara began, 'long before you were born. We were slaves to people from beyond the stars.'

Sheppard's intention had been to disguise their technology and knowledge from these people, pretending they were just from another village. When all this time, it seemed Akara had known more than she was letting on. Just how badly had Sheppard and his team been played?

'These people from the stars,' Akara continued, 'were at war with another, greater, more powerful race. They fought amongst the stars and amongst planets, laying many to waste in their battles. One mighty battle was fought right here on our home planet and many of us were lost to our everlasting sorrow.'

'Sorrow,' replied the villagers.

'But in that sorrow came joy as the Great Ones won the battle and drove the Enemy from our midst never to be seen again.'

'All praise the Great Ones.' Many of the villagers raised their right hands and swayed in unison, while others just sat quietly and chanted the responses.

'When the Enemy was defeated, the Queen of the Great Ones came to us.'

'All praise the Queen.'

'She was saddened at our plight and took pity on us, granting us our freedom.'

'Are you kidding me,' Rodney muttered. 'Can you believe they're buying this?'

'She promised us protection from the Enemy forever more,' Akara spoke to the attentive villagers. 'And in return, we promised to serve Her faithfully and prove ourselves worthy of Her.'

'We strive to have worth,' chanted the villagers.

'If we are worthy, then She will take us into Her essence and make us one with the Great Ones.'

Sheppard grabbed at the bars and leant against them. 'You mean she'll suck you dry,' he called out. 'Why don't you tell them the truth?'

Akara's head snapped around and she glared at Sheppard. 'Silence the blasphemer,' she commanded.

Two of the honour guard marched towards the cell and pointed their stunners at Sheppard and his team.

'What are the chances after all these years those things still work?' Sheppard asked Ronon as Rodney tried to edge out of the field of fire.

'Do you want to find out?' Ronon asked.

Sheppard held up his hands and stepped backwards. 'Shutting up,' he told Akara.

Akara turned back to the assembled villagers and paused to gather her thoughts. Raising her right hand again she continued to speak. 'Although we were free, we begged Her to stay amongst us and lead us.'

'To give us worth.'

'But the Great Queen shook Her head sadly; She had other worlds to save from the Enemy. But before the Great Ones left us, they passed on their sacred laws and decreed that from now on, we would have three to lead the way. Three to adhere to the ways of the Great Ones and lead us not from the chosen path. For are not _we_ amongst this planet the chosen ones? Are not _we_ only worthy of the Queen's grace and life everlasting in Her touch?'

'Only if we have worth.'

Silence fell over everyone in the arena as Akara turned and looked back towards the hidden rooms of the chamber. 'There is one amongst us that has fallen, oh children, one amongst us who has sinned against his fellow. Was it not decreed that no one amongst us shall raise a hand against our fellow brethren as all of us are sacred in the eyes of the Queen?'

'The worthy shall not take the life of the worthy,' intoned the villagers.

'The worthy shall not take the life of the worthy,' Akara repeated softly. 'Only those of no worth.' She gestured towards Bain and Otha. 'Bring him before us, this fallen child.'

Sheppard and his team watched as Otha and Bain disappeared from view.

'What is all this talk about worthy?' Ronon asked.

'Sharra spoke of being of worth to us before,' Teyla reminded Sheppard.

'Yeah,' he nodded, 'don't know what it means, though.'

'Who cares,' Rodney said, 'I'm more worried about how this all affects us.'

'Looks like we're about to find out.' Sheppard pointed towards the right side of the arena where Otha and Bain emerged, half carrying a man between them.

The man's hair was matted and his clothes were torn and covered in dark stains. He stumbled along in the two men's grip, seeming only half awake.

'Must have drugged him, too.' Ronon noted.

'That guy's sick?' Rodney wondered. 'He doesn't look that bad to me.'

'Children!' Akara gestured towards the men walking towards her. 'This man has sinned against his brethren.'

'He has lost his worth,' the villagers replied.

'But his worth can be restored to him,' Akara said, triumphantly. 'All thanks to the powers of the Great Ones.'

'All praise the Great Ones.'

Akara walked over to the Ancient artefact. 'The Queen saw what the Enemy had left behind,' she gestured to the fluted column, 'and She was angered at what She saw. The Enemy had left behind a device to destroy us all, but the Great Queen took the Enemy's weapon and turned it against them. She made us a way to keep the faith and destroy the unworthy at the same time.'

'That doesn't sound too good,' Sheppard muttered.

Rodney rolled his eyes. 'Ten bucks says we're unworthy.'

'No bet,' Sheppard replied as Akara began walking towards them.

'What do we do?' Teyla asked.

'Remember Plan B?' Sheppard looked to the others who nodded back at him. 'I think I have an idea.'

Akara reached the cell and looked inside. 'You are unbelievers and unworthy,' she told them.

'Guess that means we're not going to be friends,' Sheppard replied.

Akara smiled back at him coldly. 'Your words mean nothing, you are nothing.'

Teyla stepped forward. 'Akara, why are you doing this? What you are saying are lies, your Great Ones are the Wraith and they feed on humans, destroying whole villages in their feeding.'

Akara nodded. 'As it should be. For only the worthy can truly attain greatness, become one with our gods.'

Teyla's hand dropped from where it had been resting on the bars. 'You are mad,' she said.

'I am worthy!' Akara declared.

'Forget it,' Ronon snorted. 'You can't convince fanatics.'

Sheppard stepped forward. 'What do you want of us?'

'You are the Master of this group, are you not?' She waited for Sheppard to nod. 'Then I want you to choose, choose one amongst you as sacrifice. A sacrifice to cleanse our brother and bring him back to the fold.'

The muscles in Sheppard's jaw jumped as he ground his teeth while considering her words.

Ronon stepped forward. 'Pick me.'

Sheppard reached out and stopped Ronon in his tracks. 'I'm in charge here,' he told the Satedan. He turned back to Akara. 'I'll do it myself.'

'What?' Rodney spluttered.

'John!' Teyla added her doubts as well.

Akara nodded in satisfaction. 'I expected nothing else. You have a few minutes to say your goodbyes.'

Gesturing to the two guards to follow her, she turned away and walked back to the centre of the arena.

The other three crowded around Sheppard.

Ronon growled, 'I won't let you do this.'

Rodney was still staring it him in disbelief. 'I knew it; I've known it all along, you really _are_ suicidal aren't you?' Rodney shook his head at the madness of it all.

'John, you cannot do this.' Teyla reached out towards the Colonel.

'Relax,' Sheppard said. 'I'm not planning on sacrificing myself.'

Ronon looked at his commanding officer. 'You do have a plan, don't you?'

Sheppard looked a little insulted at Ronon's words. 'Of course, did you ever doubt me?'

The large man crossed his arms and grinned. 'Sometimes.'

Sheppard crossed his arms and glared back at Ronon before breaking into a small grin of his own.

Rodney muttered. 'Oh spare me from macho military crap. What is your plan, "oh great suicidal one"?'

Sheppard pointed towards the artefact. 'Ancient device,' he then pointed at his own chest, 'Ancient gene.'

'Yes, and?' Rodney shook his head.

'And how well do you think their ceremony's going to go when I turn that damn thing off?'

'You'll use your gene to deactivate the artefact,' Rodney said, before breaking into his own grin.

'They will not be pleased,' Teyla said.

Sheppard shrugged. 'Couldn't care less. I'll turn it off, everyone will freak out and then I'll double back and set you guys free.'

Ronon grinned. 'Then we'll fight our way out!'

'Don't care how we do it as long as we Plan B ourselves outta here.'

Teyla looked doubtful. 'It is a risk.'

'If anyone's got a better idea?' Sheppard looked at the others. 'No?' He shrugged.

Teyla sighed but in the end nodded her agreement.

Ronon grabbed Sheppard's forearm in a firm grip. 'Got your back, buddy.'

'Any chance we can grab our gear as we go?' Rodney asked.

'You're worried about your precious gear?' Ronon asked.

'At least get our weapons, we might need those.'

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. 'Any idea where they might be?'

'Oh,' Rodney's shoulders slumped in defeat. 'Never mind.'

Sheppard watched as Akara raised her hands to the villagers. 'Get ready.'

~ SGA ~

'The worthy cannot take the life of the worthy,' Akara's voice rang out in the quiet chamber. 'That is the law, only the Great Ones have the right to take life. But that does not mean we cannot take the life of the unbeliever, the unworthy.' She gestured back towards the cell. 'Here amongst us are the unworthy. They came to our village offering many things; alliance, food, medicine and tools beyond our imagining. But they lied, their offerings were false! They came not to help us but to enslave us again, to turn us from our path. You heard them speak out against the Great Ones.'

The villagers muttered to each other, many glaring angrily at Sheppard and his team.

'Just once,' Rodney muttered, 'nice, happy, easily impressed, primitive people. Just once I'd like to meet some, is it asking too much?'

'But even the unworthy have their uses,' Akara said. 'For in their deaths can our fallen brother be redeemed, in their deaths they can serve the Great Ones.' Akara gestured towards the cell. 'Bring him forward.'

'Here goes,' muttered Sheppard as one of the honour guard walked over to the cell and opened the door.

'Good luck,' Rodney whispered as he watched his friend walk away.

Sheppard shook off the guard's hand on his arm and walked towards Akara. Bain and Otha stepped forward also leading the ill man.

Sheppard eyed the man a little nervously. 'What's wrong with him?'

'Silence,' Bain said as he placed the ill man's hand on one side of the Ancient column before stepping back, leaving the man to sway slightly and lean against the artefact.

Akara gestured towards the ill looking villager. 'Here before you is Akarin, brother of Forric, son of Kal and Danric, husband to Sharna and father of little Forric and Kaldra. You know him.'

The villagers murmured in agreement.

'He has sinned but now his sins will be passed to an unworthy and he will be forgiven in the eyes of the village and the Great Ones.'

'Hail the Great Ones.'

Akara turned to Sheppard. 'Place you hand on the column.'

Sheppard reached out, then hesitated just before touching the device. 'What will happen to my friends?'

'Your friends?' Akara's eyes flicked past Sheppard to the others then back at him again. 'We will set them free after the ceremony. They were only necessary to ensure your cooperation.'

Right, Sheppard looked deeply into Akara's eyes. He didn't believe a word she'd just said, not that it mattered because the moment his hand touched that column any plans she might have had were about to go south, big time.

He smiled at her, 'Okey dokey, then.'

Wiggling his fingers slightly, Sheppard took a deep breath and concentrated only on the desire to turn off the Ancient artefact. He touched the column and his whole world exploded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Six**

Silence filled Elizabeth Weir's office as she took in Teyla's words. Leaning back in her chair, she sighed heavily and ran a hand through her dark curls.

'What happened?' she asked.

Teyla opened her mouth to speak when a voice came from behind her.

'I think I may have an idea about that.'

Everyone turned to see Doctor Zelenka standing in the doorway.

'Radek.' Elizabeth gestured for the man to enter. 'How long have you been there?'

The Czech fiddled with his glasses and clutched tightly at a tablet he was holding to his chest. 'I was here for a little while, I confess I became engrossed in your story,' he addressed Teyla, then the others as he walked into the room. 'I think I might have found your Ancient artefact.' He held out his tablet for Weir to take, only to have it snatched from his hands by McKay.

'We'll see,' Rodney sniffed as he pulled his own tablet towards him and began comparing the photos and scans he had taken to the information on Zelenka's tablet. 'Huh,' he muttered, 'you found it.'

'Well,' Elizabeth raised a coffee mug to her lips only to place it back on her desk again as she realised her drink had gone cold. 'What have you found?'

Zelenka's face lit up in excitement. 'It looks like the device –'

'Transfers the memories from one person to another,' Rodney finished for him as he skimmed through the information on the tablet.

Zelenka's face fell as his thunder was stolen yet again by McKay. 'Yes, yes,' he muttered. 'I was about to say that.'

'What?' Rodney looked up at Zelenka. 'Well why didn't you?'

'What do you mean transfers memories?' Elizabeth asked, mostly to prevent yet another argument between the two scientists.

Rodney stared intently at the tablet as he answered, 'Takes the memories of one person and puts it into another.' He looked up at Elizabeth. 'Not all that different from those stasis pods we found recently. You remember the ones that took over you and Sheppard?'

Elizabeth felt a cold shiver run down her spine, raising goose bumps on her bare arms. She suddenly wished she had her jacket on. 'How could I forget?'

Rodney continued speed reading through the information on Zelenka's tablet. 'Only this time, it looks like it only transfers the memories of the person and not the whole consciousness. Huh, that has to be good for Sheppard.'

'Why would the Ancestors want to do that?' Teyla asked.

'Oh, I don't know,' Rodney said. 'Transfer my memories and voila, instant genius. Not to mention increasing engineering or medical knowledge in times of disasters.'

'Interrogating prisoners,' Ronon added.

'Passing on information from one generation to the next,' Zelenka suggested.

'And this happened to John?' Elizabeth asked.

'I'm afraid so.' Zelenka pushed his glasses into a more comfortable position on his nose. 'Assuming the device worked correctly, of course.'

'Well of course it was working correctly,' Rodney snapped back. 'I think it's pretty obvious from Sheppard's reaction and the fact he's currently out of his mind in the infirmary.'

'Wait a minute.' Elizabeth raised her hand to get the scientists' attention. 'Where are John's memories right now; were they swapped in the transfer and essentially John is back on the planet in this Akarin?'

Zelenka shook his head. 'The transfer is only one way, it seems.'

'So John is sharing his body with Akarin?' Teyla asked.

'If we're lucky,' Rodney said, 'for all we know, everything that was Sheppard was completely wiped and replaced with a murdering psycho.'

Elizabeth sat up straight in her chair. 'I'm sorry, with a _what_?'

'Oh,' Rodney looked up at Elizabeth's outburst. 'Didn't we get to that part yet?' He glanced over at Teyla who shook her head.

'No, you didn't,' Elizabeth growled. 'Is this permanent?' she asked both the scientists.

Zelenka shook his head. 'We don't know.' He glanced at Rodney for help.

'Ah, maybe.' Rodney was still reading the tablet, trying to find some helpful information. 'Looks like the device can be tuned for temporary or permanent transfers.'

'And we have no idea which one John received?' Teyla asked.

'Uh, no.' Rodney had to admit defeat. 'Short of going back and asking to examine the device,' he looked around the room. 'Anyone up for that?'

'I'll do it.' Ronon stood tall, looking like he was about to rush out right there and then.

Elizabeth held up one hand and tapped her earpiece. 'Carson?'

'_Elizabeth?'_

'How is our patient?'

'_Colonel Sheppard?' _There was a brief pause. _'He seems calmer now. I haven't had to sedate him for almost half an hour.'_

'Would you say he seems better?'

'_It's a bit early to say anything, Elizabeth, but aye, call me an optimist, he seems more himself.'_

'Thank you.' Doctor Weir looked over at the others. 'Carson seems hopeful that John is recovering, so while we wait for better news, why don't we continue with your report, Teyla, give John a bit more time.'

Teyla nodded her head. 'As you wish.'

~ SGA ~

When Sheppard's hand touched the Ancient device, two things happened almost simultaneously. Both men screamed and the column lit up with a bright flash of light.

Startled cries could be heard all about the arena as Akara threw up her hands and shouted, 'All praise the Great Ones.'

The response wasn't as uniform this time from the villagers as before.

'All praise!' Akara demanded.

This time the villagers replied more strongly. 'All praise the Great Ones.'

Both men slumped to the ground as the light faded away. Ignoring Sheppard entirely for the moment, Akara strode towards Akarin. She bent down and murmured something to the man. She then gestured towards Bain and Otha and the two Masters moved over and helped Akarin to his feet.

Straightening up and turning to face the assembled villagers, Akara smiled in triumph. 'All has been forgiven, brethren, our brother's sins have been wiped clean. Once again, he is worthy to stand amongst us. Welcome him back to the fold.'

Bain and Otha gently took Akarin's arms and slowly walked him forward to meet the villagers who were moving down the stone benches. Each villager rested their right hand on Akarin's chest before moving over to repeat the gesture with Akara. Once this was done, they turned and quietly filed out of the arena and up the stairs, back to the village.

'John!' Teyla called out to her friend as the villagers slowly walked away.

'Sheppard!' Rodney hissed at the prone body.

Ronon rammed himself repeatedly against the bars in the vain hope they might give way.

Eventually, the only people left in the arena were the three Masters, the guards, a dazed Akarin, Sheppard and his team.

'Take our brother back to a suitable room,' Akara instructed Bain and Otha. 'I will be with you shortly.' Stepping over to where Sheppard lay, Akara nudged him with her shoe.

'Leave him alone!' Ronon yelled.

Akara tilted her head to one side and regarded the remaining captives. She gestured to two of the guards who bent down and grabbed Sheppard by the arms. They lifted him slightly and began dragging his unconscious form back to the cell, following Akara as she walked. The other two guards fell in behind them.

Akara stopped in front of the cell and regarded the three prisoners inside.

'What did you do?' Ronon snarled.

Ignoring the tall man Akara addressed Teyla, 'Step aside.'

'Sure,' Ronon said with a feral grin. 'Come right in.'

The two guards not currently holding Sheppard raised their stunners at Ronon's unspoken threat.

'If you care for this one,' Akara indicated Sheppard, 'step aside; otherwise I'll leave him out here.'

Teyla reached out and touched the Satedan on the arm. 'Ronon.'

Ronon looked sideways at Teyla. When she nodded to him, he reluctantly moved back from the doorway.

'Very good.' Akara signalled one of the guards to unlock the cell door.

Teyla stepped in front of Ronon slightly to encourage him not to do anything drastic. 'What have you done?' she asked as the guards dragged Sheppard over the threshold of the cell. They dumped the unconscious Colonel on the floor and stepped back.

'I have done nothing,' Akara said as Teyla and Ronon rushed forward and pulled Sheppard further into the cell.

'Nothing?' Rodney looked from Sheppard to Akara. 'You call that nothing? What happened out there?' He gestured towards the Ancient device.

'Justice,' Akara said as the guards locked the cell.

'Justice?' Teyla asked moving away from her unconscious friend and addressing Akara directly.

Akara inclined her head. 'You are right, tomorrow will be justice. Today was just the sentencing of the accused.'

'Who, that guy?' Rodney gestured towards the hidden chambers where Akarin had been led.

Akara's face darkened at Rodney's words. 'Akarin is a worthy member of this village and is accused of nothing, unlike your Colonel Sheppard here.'

Ronon stood from where he had been crouching over Sheppard and moved towards the front of the cell to join the others. 'What do you mean?'

'Three moons ago, your Colonel Sheppard sat down to dinner with his family.'

'Hang on,' Rodney raised a hand to interrupt Akara. 'We weren't even _here_ then, whenever that was, and besides we're the only family Sheppard has.'

'Three moons ago,' Akara insisted, 'a family sat down to evening tithe and Colonel Sheppard calmly butchered his wife, Sharna, and two precious children, Forric and Kaldra. When we asked him why, he told us the voices of the Enemy told him to.'

'You're lying!' Ronon said.

'Oh no,' Rodney breathed as Akara shook her head sadly.

'For his sins,' she said. 'Colonel Sheppard will be taken out tomorrow morning and killed. Justice will be done for the worthy taken so horribly from us. I will give you this night to say your goodbyes, if he wakes.'

Rodney took two steps back from the bars and looked thoughtfully at Sheppard as Teyla tried to reason with Akara.

'You cannot do this,' Teyla said.

'It is done.' Akara moved away from the prisoners followed by her guards.

'What's going to happen to us?' Rodney called out.

Akara paused and turned back to address them. 'I promised Colonel Sheppard that if he did as I asked, I would set you free,' she smiled slightly. 'I lied.'

Teyla wordlessly watched as the villagers walked away.

As the Canadian moved over to crouch next to Sheppard, Ronon asked Rodney, 'Why did you ask after your own sorry skin?'

'Because I was testing out a theory,' Rodney replied.

Teyla and Ronon moved over to Sheppard as well.

'Theory?' Teyla asked as she sat on the ground.

All three settled themselves around Sheppard.

'Yeah,' Rodney said, 'you heard what she accused Sheppard of, right?'

'We were all standing here.' Ronon answered.

Rodney looked from one team mate to the other. 'But remember the names?'

Teyla nodded with realisation. 'They were the family of Akarin.'

'Exactly.'

'So?' Ronon wanted to know.

'So, Akara kept going on about passing of sins and worthy and the unworthy and Sheppard doing things he could not possibly have done.' Rodney gestured towards the Ancient device. 'What if that's not just rhetoric? What if these sins were somehow _really_ passed onto Sheppard?'

'That's impossible.' Ronon said.

'Is it?' Rodney waved his arms about the cell. 'We've seen weirder things happen. What if this Akarin's consciousness was passed into Sheppard when they _both_ touched the device?'

Remembering the ceremony, Teyla said, 'The worthy cannot take the life of the worthy.'

'But everyone here seems to think it's completely okay to kill an unworthy like us.' Rodney told her.

'What does that have to do with you asking if we were going to be set free or not?' Ronon asked.

'Two reasons,' Rodney held up two fingers, 'what if this isn't the first time they've held this ceremony? Think about it, people hurt each other all the time. Would you let a potential unworthy source go if you might need them again later on?'

'And the other reason?' Ronon asked.

'We would tell everyone what had happened,' Teyla reasoned, 'it would be a great risk to let us go free.'

'They're going to kill Sheppard tomorrow morning for something he didn't do, just to satisfy some twisted Wraith law.' Rodney looked down at his friend. 'And then sometime in the future, the same thing is going to happen to us. And I thought we were screwed before.'

Ronon stood up and strode to the front of the cell. 'We're not dead yet and neither is Sheppard.' He looked back at Rodney. 'If this Akarin is inside Sheppard, where is he?'

'How should I know?' Rodney stood up too. 'Do I look like the walking encyclopaedia of everything Ancient?'

'Yes.'

Rodney slumped a little. 'Well, this time, I'm not.'

Teyla reached out and touched Sheppard before looking up at Ronon. 'You think John is inside Akarin?'

'If he is,' Ronon replied, 'then he'll do everything he can to rescue us.'

'Well that's a small comfort, I guess.' Rodney said.

Ronon looked out at the empty arena. 'Right now, it might be the only one we've got.'

~ SGA ~

It was impossible to judge the time this far underground. Teyla, Ronon and Rodney had held vigil over Sheppard for what felt like hours. Rodney had checked Sheppard's pulse and peered into his eyes only to declare that in his not so expert opinion he was sleeping peacefully. Ronon had just grunted at that assessment.

'What do we do if John wakes up?' Teyla asked as she sat by her friend's side.

'What do you mean?' Rodney said.

'She means,' Ronon replied from where he was standing watch at the cell door, 'if what you say is true, then a murderer will wake up instead of Sheppard.' Ronon turned to look at Rodney. 'What do you think will happen then?'

McKay shuffled backwards away from Sheppard. 'Do you think he might kill us?' his voice rose slightly in horror.

Teyla frowned at Ronon for worrying Rodney. 'You said yourself, Rodney,' she said. 'Akara wants us for other ceremonies. I do not think she would risk harming us before she needs to.'

'Is that supposed to make me feel better?' Rodney asked.

'But you are right, Ronon,' she continued, 'I do worry who might wake up.'

'Me too,' Ronon admitted as he reached out and rattled the cell bars. 'Which is why I suggest one of us stands watch while the others sleep.'

'Sleep?' Rodney laughed a little. 'Who can sleep?'

Teyla stood. 'We need to rest if we want to be alert for a rescue. Which is why I'll stand first watch.'

'I'll do it.' Ronon said.

Teyla raised an eyebrow at him. 'And would you wake me when it is my turn?'

Ronon shrugged, not even the least embarrassed that Teyla had worked out his plan.

'As I thought,' Teyla said. 'Which is why I'll take the first watch.'

Smiling a little at Teyla's gentle reprimand, Ronon moved away from the doorway.

'Wake me in a few hours,' he said as he lay down on the ground between the unconscious Colonel and his friends.

'Wake me up from this nightmare,' Rodney muttered as he found a spot in the cell as far away from Sheppard as he could get.


	7. Chapter 7

**Passing of Sins**

**Chapter Seven **

The night was almost completely black, only a guttering torch at the entrance remained, when a figure crept quietly down the stairs and into the arena. It paused at the foot of the stairs, as if it was deciding whether or not to continue, before it pulled the torch out of a bracket on the wall and moved quietly towards the cell.

A slight whisper of sound caught Ronon's attention as he was standing watch and he stood up to move towards the cell door. 'Sheppard?' he hissed.

Teyla stirred at the Satedan's voice and rolled over from where she was laying. 'Ronon?'

Ronon peered into the gloom trying to catch a better glimpse at whoever was walking towards them.

Sensing rather than seeing his tense stance, Teyla stood up and stepped over a sleeping Rodney to stand by Ronon's side. 'What is it?'

'It's Sheppard.' Ronon grinned in the dark.

Teyla peered out, trying to see who was coming towards them. The torch dipped and wavered as the person walked, making it hard to see exactly who was carrying it. Not that he would look like Sheppard, Teyla knew, that body was laying unconscious behind them. But this person seemed smaller than she remembered Akarin being and he walked with a hesitant, almost skipping, step.

Ronon must have reached the same conclusion because he took a step back from the bars. 'Is that Akarin?' he asked Teyla.

Teyla shook her head. 'I do not know.' She, too, stepped back to stand beside Ronon, unsure who was coming towards them.

As the figure approached, Ronon and Teyla could make out more features and the torch revealed that it was a she, not a he.

Teyla stepped forward again. 'Sharra,' she said, recognising the figure.

Sharra looked over her shoulder then stepped up to the bars. 'Teyla.'

'What are you doing here?'

Sharra handed the torch to Ronon and grabbed the bars of the cell with both hands. 'I am so sorry.' She peered back into the dark of the cell, trying to catch a glimpse of Sheppard. 'Is he alright?'

'What do you think?' Ronon growled.

Sharra jumped at the tone of voice. Seeing the reaction, Teyla gestured for Ronon to move back away from the young woman. Grunting, Ronon passed the torch to Teyla and walked further back into the cell and crouched over Rodney, shaking him awake.

'Wha? Huh?' Rodney turned and blearily looked at Ronon. Realising he could see the tall man, he looked towards the light source in Teyla's hand. 'Where did we get that?' he demanded.

Ronon nodded towards the doorway.

'Sheppard?' Rodney scrambled to his feet.

'Sharra.'

'Oh.' Disappointed, Rodney rubbed a hand over his eyes. 'What's she doing here?'

'Go and find out.'

Stumbling slightly, a half-awake Rodney walked towards the two women as Ronon sat down next to Sheppard.

'I wanted to warn you,' he heard Sharra tell Teyla, 'but I was afraid. I thought I would have a chance to tell you about the ceremony when we went to your village,'

Sharra shrugged sadly, 'but we did not go.'

'What can you tell us about the ceremony?' Rodney asked around a large yawn.

'It was the first one I have ever attended,' Sharra explained, 'but one happened when I was only a few seasons old. I remember my mother talking about it when I was younger, when she thought I could not hear.'

'What have the Masters done to John?' Teyla asked.

'They did nothing, the Great Ones did it, they passed the sins of Akarin onto Colonel Sheppard and tomorrow, he will die for what he did.'

'He did nothing!' Rodney snapped.

Teyla shushed him, a little worried that any raised voices might bring guards. 'Sharra,' she said to the young woman, 'Colonel Sheppard has hurt no one here, and you know that. He is a good man and would not kill innocent people. What you have been told is a lie, the Great Ones aren't protectors, they are the Wraith and they will kill you all.'

'I do not know that,' Sharra protested, 'all I know is what I have been told.'

Rodney pressed his face hard against the bars. 'Oh save me from wacky cults. Listen, I don't care what you believe in; I only care about my friend. How can we fix this?'

'Fix?' Sharra looked from Rodney to Teyla. 'What is there to fix? What is done is done.'

'Will you talk to her?' Rodney pushed himself away from the bars in frustration and walked over to Ronon.

'When your mother talked about the other ceremony, what did she say?' Teyla asked Sharra.

'A stranger was found, he came to the village one day to trade and because he was unworthy, he was kept for the ceremony. My mother used to feed him while he was here.' Sharra smiled slightly. 'I think she liked him a little.'

'Told you,' Rodney said from behind Teyla, 'they were never going to let us go.'

'Go on,' Teyla said.

Sharra nodded. 'Something happened, I don't know what. An argument perhaps, mother never said out loud. But Akarin killed a man –'

Rodney interrupted. 'Wait, are we talking about the same Akarin as now? Are you saying he's done this before?'

Sharra nodded. 'I believe so, yes.'

'And they didn't take the hint the first time?' Rodney threw up his hands in disbelief. 'Oh no, let's forgive the murderer and let him do it again. Who cares, we'll just kill some other poor unworthy victim in his place, all is forgiven!'

Teyla glared at him. 'Rodney, be quiet, you'll wake someone.'

From where he was sitting, Ronon asked, 'What happened to the stranger after the ceremony?'

'He was killed the next day,' Sharra said.

'How?' Ronon asked.

Sharra shrugged. 'I do not know, he just was.'

'Wait a minute,' Rodney scrambled to his feet and walked over to Sharra. 'What was Akarin like, before he went nutso and killed his family?'

'Like?' Sharra looked confused. 'He was normal. He worked in the fields, married and had children. He attended the tithes and was worthy.'

'What are you thinking, Rodney?' Teyla asked.

'Did he seem particularly smart, this Akarin?' Rodney asked Sharra.

Sharra shrugged. 'He never talked much to others, kept to himself. People told him what to do and he did it.'

'McKay?' Ronon stood up and walked over to where Rodney was standing.

'I think they reset his brain.'

'What?' Ronon asked.

'Default setting, factory fresh,' Rodney waved a hand, 'he was a blank slate waiting to be retaught everything he needed to know. I bet that's what the Dragon Lady and her minions are doing right now. Everything Akarin was before transferred to Sheppard leaving behind a blank mind. Basic functions are still there, otherwise he wouldn't know how to eat and breathe, everything else: his personality, his memories, quirks, homicidal tendencies all the things that made him, _him _. . . gone,' Rodney snapped a finger, 'just like that.'

'That's horrifying,' Teyla said.

'I wonder if that was what the Ancients intended or did that Wraith queen fiddle with the programming?'

'But what does it mean for Sheppard?' Ronon wanted to know.

'I have no idea,' Rodney replied. 'But I'm guessing we can't count on him riding to our rescue in Akarin's body now.'

Ronon turned around and leant against the bars looking at Sheppard. 'So he's gone?'

Sighing, Rodney turned to look at his friend also. 'I don't know. If I had my things, my scanner . . .' He trailed off.

'Nothing is certain,' Teyla told the two men. 'We will get John back to Atlantis and fix this.'

'Atlantis?' Sharra asked.

'Whoops,' Rodney muttered to Ronon.

'Sharra,' Teyla reached out and wrapped her hands around the younger woman's as they rested on the bars. 'Help us escape so we can save Colonel Sheppard.'

Sharra looked panicked at the suggestion. 'I cannot, if I help you, I would be deemed unworthy.'

'Join the club,' Rodney muttered.

'Worthy,' Teyla said. 'You talk about being worthy. You told Colonel Sheppard and I that you had recently become of worth, what did you mean?'

Sharra relaxed a little as she felt more comfortable talking about her beliefs. 'When you are of worth, it means you are productive. You have value to the village and the Masters.'

'And those not of worth?'

'Outsiders like yourselves,' Sharra nodded to Teyla and the others, 'as well as the very young, very old and those who disobey the Masters.'

'So even your own people can be unworthy,' Ronon said.

Sharra nodded. 'If you are too old or too young to work and be productive, then you are unworthy of the Great Ones' protection. If you disobey the laws of the Great Ones or are not of the village, then you are unworthy.'

'I'm surprised you haven't used some of your own unworthy in your ceremonies.'

Rodney said.

Sharra shuddered and dropped her gaze, unable to meet Teyla's eye.

'Sharra?' Teyla asked gently.

'My brother,' she said quietly, 'he is only five seasons old. If we had not found you when we did. . .'

Ronon turned and stared at Sharra. 'The hunting party, you weren't looking for food, you were hunting for someone unworthy.'

Sharra nodded as tears fell down her face. 'Yes, forgive me, yes.'

'If you want our forgiveness, then get us out of here. Help us save Sheppard,' Ronon said.

'There is nothing to forgive,' Teyla said, trying to soothe the young woman. 'You were only protecting your family, just as we are trying to do now.'

'If you want to really be worthy,' Rodney told Sharra pointing to his unconscious friend, 'then you be like Sheppard. There is someone _truly_ worthy, this guy goes out and helps complete strangers. He doesn't care about his own life; he would die to save you and your entire village without even thinking _twice_ about it. He volunteered for the ceremony rather than give one of us up, that's the kind of guy John Sheppard is.'

Teyla looked at Rodney in amazement. Ronon grunted his approval and slapped the shorter man on the back, causing him to stagger slightly.

'And if you ever tell him I said that,' Rodney told his two friends, 'I'll deny every word.'

Sharra sniffed. 'I am scared.'

'Being worthy is being afraid but doing the right thing anyway,' Teyla told Sharra.

'I liked him,' Sharra looked over at Sheppard, 'he was nice.'

'He still is,' Rodney said, 'most of the time.'

'All you have to do is open this door,' Ronon said. 'Nothing else, we'll do the rest.'

'What if someone finds you? You might hurt –'

'No,' Teyla interrupted Sharra, 'we will go quietly, no one will know.'

'I don't have a key,' Sharra said.

'Can you find our weapons?' Ronon asked. 'I can get us out with my gun.'

'Really?' Rodney looked at Ronon, surprised.

Ronon shrugged. 'Of course.'

'Sharra?' Teyla looked at the young woman, who was staring intently at the floor.

Sighing deeply, Sharra seemed to reach a decision. Looking up, she held her hand out towards Teyla. 'Give me the torch,' she demanded. 'I will find your weapons, I will help you and prove that I am as worthy as Colonel Sheppard.'

Smiling, Teyla passed the torch through the bars. 'You have nothing to prove, but thank you anyway.'

Sharra's fingers tightened around the torch. She took another deep breath as if to settle her nerves. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.'

She moved away towards the back of the arena where the hidden rooms were. The faint torch light flickered and disappeared from view, leaving everything in complete darkness.

'She'll be okay, right?' Rodney's voice whispered.

'Of course,' Teyla said from his right.

'We'll be out of here soon,' Ronon's voice rumbled in the black.

'We will leave this place and take John back to Atlantis,' Teyla said. 'We will hurt no one, unless they attack us first.'

'Works for me,' agreed Rodney.

Silence came from where Ronon was standing.

'Ronon,' Teyla said, 'we will attack no one first.'

More silence followed, Teyla was about to make her point again when Ronon finally spoke. 'She's coming back.'

'That was quick,' Rodney said. 'That's good right?'

'Unless she was caught,' Ronon pointed out.

Sharra hurried back to the cell, the torch's light fading fast.

Rodney looked at her empty hands. 'Where are the weapons?'

Sharra pulled a handful of keys from out of a pocket. 'I found these instead.'

'Try them,' Teyla instructed as Ronon moved back to pick up Sheppard.

Rodney snatched the dying torch from Sharra's hands. 'Hurry up, then.' He leant against the door and held the torch as close to the lock as he could reach.

Sharra began trying each key in the lock, jiggling it back and forth to see if it would fit.

'Come on, come on,' Rodney pleaded.

Sharra was over halfway through the keys when the torch finally spluttered and died.

'Oh crap.' Rodney's voice seemed to echo in the darkness. There was a click and Rodney suddenly found himself falling face first onto the floor. 'Ow!'

'Hurry, this way,' he heard Sharra say.

'Which way?' he demanded as he stood up and brushed himself down. Only belatedly realising that he was standing outside the cell.

A small hand grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. 'This way.'

'Teyla.' Rodney reached backward towards his friends.

'Go, Rodney,' Teyla's voice came from behind him, followed by a male grunt which Rodney assumed was Ronon hauling up Sheppard's dead weight. 'Talk so we may follow you.'

'What, what will I say?'

'Since when have you been lost for words?' Ronon wondered.

'Tell us about the experiment you were working on before this mission,' Telya instructed.

'Oh, well . . .' Rodney happily started explaining in excruciating detail what he and Zelenka had been working on as he was dragged stumbling through the dark. '. . . and Radek thought it would only be a matter of testing the –'

They rounded a corner and suddenly found themselves in a lit corridor.

'You can shut up now,' Ronon told the scientist as he walked past him with Sheppard slung over one shoulder.

'Thank you, Rodney,' Teyla said as she moved to the front of the group.

'Now what?' Rodney looked about.

'Can we leave the building from here?' Teyla asked Sharra.

The younger woman shook her head. 'The only exit is back through the arena and up the stairs.'

'We still need our weapons.' Ronon said.

'What are we going to do,' Rodney wanted to know, 'search each room until we find them?'

Ronon bent down and placed Sheppard on the ground. Standing up, he pulled a torch from off the wall and opened the nearest door to look inside.

'And what if we find the Dragon Lady and her friends?' Rodney wanted to know as he followed Ronon's example and opened the door on his side of the corridor.

'Hope they attack first,' Ronon said.

Teyla along with Sharra had gone ahead, disappearing around the corridor. She returned quickly, attaching her P90 to her tactical vest. 'We have found our things, this way.'

'What about Sheppard?' Rodney asked Ronon as the taller man moved to follow Teyla.

Ronon hesitated looking back at Sheppard. 'Nobody's around, they would have heard you talking and come running before now. The sooner we're armed, the better we can protect him,' he decided.

Following Ronon around the corner, Rodney almost ran into Sharra. Smiling, she held up the torch Sheppard had given her. 'Look what we found.'

'Great.' Rodney sidestepped Sharra and entered the room were they had spent their first night. Ronon was already sliding knives into hidden sheaths about his person as Teyla finished off assessing their gear.

'It is all here,' she announced.

Rodney pulled out a scanner from his backpack and passed it to Sharra. 'Hold this a minute.' He attached the backpack to his vest and shrugged it on. Ripping open a pocket, he pulled out a ration bar and picked up his P90. 'Ready.'

Ronon looked from the food to the P90. Reaching out, he grabbed the bar and ripped it open, stuffing it into his mouth.

'Hey!' Rodney protested, before clipping his rifle to his vest and pulling out another ration bar from the same pocket.

Sharra was waving the scanner around. 'What do I do with this?'

'Hmm . . .' Rodney chewed the last of his ration bar and held out his hand for the device.

'Rodney.' Teyla indicated they should leave.

'Coming!' He hurried out the room after the other four, fiddling with the scanner as he went. Rounding the corner, he found everyone standing around Sheppard, looking down at him. 'What's wrong?'

Ronon stood over Sheppard, twirling his gun. 'What if he wakes?'

'Wakes?' Rodney walked over. 'We want him to wake up, right?'

Reaching some sort of decision, Ronon pointed his weapon at Sheppard and stunned him.

'Jesus!' Rodney's voice rose in pitch at what he just witnessed. 'What'd you do that for?'

'We can't have John wake up as we are escaping,' Teyla explained, 'we don't know who or what might be in there.'

'So you just shot him?' Rodney asked. 'Did you even consider what stunning him might do on top of what's already happened?'

Ronon shrugged as he slipped his gun back into its holster.

Sharra nervously sidled past the others. 'You need to go, it will be dawn soon. Someone will come to check on you.'

Teyla nodded. 'Yes. Ronon.'

Ronon stooped down and hauled Sheppard up onto a shoulder. 'Lead the way.'

The group hurried out of the back rooms and into the arena.

Rodney checked his scanner as they passed the artefact. 'Wait, wait, wait,' he said, stopping.

'We don't have time for this,' Ronon grumbled at him.

'He did it!' Rodney waved the scanner over the Ancient column. 'He actually did it.'

'Did what?' Teyla stopped and turned back.

'Sheppard,' Rodney laughed a little, 'he deactivated the Ancient artefact.'

Ronon turned back too. 'He broke it?'

Rodney shook his head. 'No just deactivated it.'

Ronon pulled out his gun, checked the setting and blasted the artefact several times. 'It's better broken,' he said.

Rodney looked a little shocked at Ronon's actions. 'Well, that's one way of making sure they'll never use it again.'

'What did you do?' Sharra hurried back to the others.

Teyla gripped her arm and began leading her back towards the stairs. 'Helping your people, now no one will ever be sacrificed for another again.'

'I, but . . .' Sharra tried to find the words to express her horror and dismay at what had just happened.

'It is for the best,' Teyla said softly. 'Think of your brother.'

Swallowing, Sharra could only nod.

~ SGA ~

Light was just beginning to touch the tops of the mountains when the group reached the closed gates of the village. Sharra lead them to a smaller gate set inside the larger one and pulled it open. Ronon ducked almost in half to fit through without bumping Sheppard on the doorway and was quickly followed by Teyla and Rodney.

Teyla turned when she realised that Sharra wasn't following. 'Sharra?'

The younger woman shook her head sadly. 'I must stay here.'

'What?' Rodney turned back at her words. 'Are you mad, when Akara finds out . . .'

Teyla nodded in understanding. 'Your brother,' she said.

Sharra smiled sadly.

'Well, maybe she should go get him then come back with us?' Rodney suggested.

'We don't have time to wait.' Ronon walked back towards the others, shifting Sheppard a little higher on his shoulder into a more comfortable position. 'Hey,' he tossed a radio to Teyla before addressing Sharra. 'Take your brother into the woods and hide,' he said. 'Wait five days then turn the radio on, if we can, we'll come back for you. Otherwise if you don't hear from us, go to another village. Anywhere has to be better than here.'

Teyla showed the young woman how to use the radio.

'You would do that, for me?' Sharra clutched the radio to her chest.

'You helped us,' Ronon said. 'We help you; that's what friends are for.'

Teyla hugged Sharra. 'Thank you.'

Sharra nodded at the words. 'I hope Colonel Sheppard recovers.'

'As do we all.'

Sharra watched the three friends turn away and begin walking up the hill. She watched until they were out of sight then closed the small gate. Looking at the radio in her hand, she sighed and headed for home.


	8. Epilogue

**Passing of Sins**

**Epilogue **

Elizabeth Weir sat at her desk working her way through some reports. It had been nineteen days since Sheppard and his team had made a dramatic return from ML7-442, forever more known as Crazy Wraith Worshipper Planet, or Sharra's Planet if you were talking to Teyla or Ronon.

Lorne and his team were just preparing a Jumper to attempt a reconnaissance mission through the planet's space gate to discover why Sheppard had not reported back when the Stargate had activated and a very relieved Chuck had lowered the shield after receiving Teyla's IDC. It had come as a big surprise to see Rodney flying the Jumper through the 'Gate. The surprise had quickly turned to shock and worry when Elizabeth had hurried to the Jumper Room and discovered Ronon carrying an unconscious Sheppard towards the waiting medical team. What had followed was a traumatic time as Sheppard had woken up and proceeded to threaten, scream and attack anyone who came close to him.

This was not the man Elizabeth knew. This was a wild, wide-eyed, raving lunatic spouting death and destruction. Not the quiet, self-deprecating man the Atlantis leader had grown to trust and respect in the few short years they had known each other. And to discover the reason for John's condition was because of an Ancient artefact, the one thing everyone was always on the lookout for. . . Elizabeth sighed and tried to concentrate on her work.

It was just a relief to see John slowly recover. Elizabeth was certain that at times, she hadn't been the only one worried that they had lost the Colonel forever. Now it was nineteen days later and Carson had finally deemed Sheppard fit and, more importantly from the Colonel's point of view, himself enough to leave the infirmary. Elizabeth knew this for a fact because Carson had contacted her personally to let her know he was springing John loose. That, and John had made straight for the balcony just off from the Control Room to think things through. It had been an even bet he would head for either the balcony or his room, not wanting to deal with anyone right away. Everyone knew that balcony was Elizabeth's and John's thinking place, somewhere to get away from everyone who couldn't quite understand the demands of command. A place where Elizabeth had shed more than a few tears on her own in anger and frustration, not to mention sorrow, when times had been tough.

A quick glance at her watch showed he had been out there for almost an hour.

_Time enough_, she thought.

Getting to her feet, Elizabeth pulled her jacket off the back of the chair and put it on, tugging the ends of her dark curls free from where they became trapped, and exited her office.

Catching Chuck's eye as she walked through the control room, she nodded in the direction of the balcony. 'Can you see that I'm not disturbed?'

Chuck nodded, understanding. 'Unless it's an emergency?'

Elizabeth chuckled at the joke. 'Do we have any other kind?'

Chuck grinned back at her. 'I'll do my best, good luck.'

Elizabeth inclined her head a little at the words. 'Not needed, but thank you.'

Walking over to the doors and out of sight of any other member of the expedition, Elizabeth wiped her hands nervously on her trousers and stepped through.

~ SGA ~

The door whooshed open behind him but Sheppard ignored it as he leaned his forearms on the balcony rail and stared out over the sea. He knew who it was, who it would always be. He had been expecting her for some time. She walked up behind him and copied his pose, their shoulders bumping briefly before she stepped to one side to give him some space.

Peering to his left, Sheppard took in Elizabeth's pose, her eyes closed, face tilted up to the sun, a gentle breeze running invisible fingers through her hair. 'Good view,' he observed.

'Mmm.' Elizabeth opened her eyes, just missing John's appraisal of her as he faced forward again. 'Nice to get out of the office occasionally.' She turned to her right, resting her left arm on the balcony. 'And good to see you up and about again.'

John looked down where his hands were clasped in front of him. 'I kinda pushed Beckett to spring me.'

'Promised to behave?'

'And eat all my vegetables.' Sheppard looked up at Elizabeth's laugh.

'I'm surprised he didn't march you straight to the mess hall to prove it.'

'He threatened to, but I told him I had to report to you first.'

Elizabeth tilted her head. 'Let me guess, they're still serving that purple pumpkin-y thing?'

Sheppard gave an exaggerated shudder. 'We are never trading with those people again.'

Elizabeth turned forward and leant back over the railing, leaving Sheppard to frown down at his hands again and chew thoughtfully on his bottom lip. She knew that look, he was working himself up to say something, and she just had to give him the time and space to do so.

'Elizabeth?'

'Hmm?' Elizabeth continued staring out over the water.

'Nothing.'

She sighed; it was going to be one of _those_ conversations, was it? Her grandmother had a saying that seemed to apply very well to John: _"Getting some men to talk was as easy as getting your teeth pulled and just as enjoyable"._

'Teyla and Ronon went back to ML7-442,' she said, deciding to ease John into whatever he wanted to say slowly.

Sheppard straightened up at her words. 'They did?'

Elizabeth nodded. 'They wanted to check up on Sharra, make sure she was okay.'

'Was she?'

'Ronon had instructed her to hide in the woods with her brother, they were both fine.'

John nodded at her words. 'Teyla explained to me what happened while I was out of it. I don't blame Sharra; I might have done the same thing in her place.'

'Teyla offered to take them both off planet and place them with the Athosians,' Elizabeth continued, 'but Sharra wanted to stay. So they settled them both in a village as far away from Akara and her people as possible.'

'Hope they'll be okay.'

Elizabeth smiled a little at John's words, typical he would worry about someone he barely knew. 'What about you, are you okay?' she turned to address him,. 'With what they did to you?'

Sheppard turned so he was facing the tower and leaned back against the railing, crossing his arms. 'Did I hurt anyone, while I was not myself?'

'I think the medical staff learned some new swear words and you threw a few punches, nothing too serious if you listen to Carson. Although I believe Ronon wants a rematch.'

Sheppard snorted. 'Ronon _always_ wants a rematch.'

'True.' Elizabeth tilted her head trying to catch Sheppard's eye. 'John?'

Sheppard was staring at his feet, finally, he looked at her and Elizabeth was a little shocked to see the pain in his eyes.

'I killed you,' he whispered. 'You, McKay, Teyla, Ronon, Beckett, even Lorne and Zelenka. I killed you _all_, over and over again.'

'Oh, John.'

'And the worst part was I liked it. No wait.' Sheppard frowned as he tried to explain. 'Not liked it as such, but you weren't you when I did it. You were always something else, some alien or entity had taken you over so I didn't feel so bad when it happened.'

'John, that wasn't you, that was Akarin's memories of what he did to his family.'

'It felt like me.' Sheppard ran a hand through his unruly hair, pulling at the ends sharply.

Elizabeth began reaching out to stop him but let her hand fall back unnoticed by Sheppard.

'I think it was the feelings that got to me the most,' Sheppard spoke quietly, almost to himself, 'that rush of power, the control over life and death. How happy I was with all that blood on my hands. _I _chose who lived or died,' he slapped himself on the chest, 'no one else only _me!'_

This time Elizabeth did reach out and grabbed Sheppard's arm. 'Not you!' she snapped. 'John, look at me.'

They were facing each other now, Elizabeth with both hands grasping John's arms as he looked intently at the floor. Swallowing heavily, he slowly raised his head and looked Elizabeth in the eye.

The look of confusion and pain on his face was too much to bear, Elizabeth stepped closer and hugged Sheppard tightly. Half a minute must have passed before she felt his arms close about her and hug her back. 'You are a _good_ person, John Sheppard,' she whispered in his ear, 'believe that.'

Sheppard made an 'hmm'-ing noise, whether agreeing or disagreeing with her, Elizabeth couldn't tell, before he sighed deeply and stepped away.

'Hope nobody saw that,' he turned away from her, clearing his throat, 'it would ruin my cool image.'

'We couldn't have that,' she agreed with him, tactfully ignoring Sheppard's gesture as he rubbed some moisture from his right eye.

'Damn wind,' he muttered. 'I don't suppose –'

Elizabeth held up a hand as Sheppard turned towards her. 'You're still going to have to go see Doctor Heitmeyer.'

'Figures, and how did you know that's what I was going to say?'

'You could look at it this way,' Elizabeth tried to make light of the situation and referring back to what John had said, 'who hasn't wanted to kill their boss occasionally?'

Sheppard's lips twitched a little. 'There is always a silver lining with you.'

Elizabeth smiled back. 'Would you have it any other way?'

'I have to confess,' Sheppard looked towards the glass doors where he could vaguely see a couple of technicians walking past, 'I have wanted to kill McKay more than once.'

'Haven't we all.'

The pair stood silently for a few minutes, leaning against the railing, lost in their separate thoughts.

'Do you think he'll do it again?' Sheppard asked.

Elizabeth shivered and silently blamed it on the cooling breeze. 'Who?'

'Akarin, do you think he'll kill again?'

Crossing her arms, Elizabeth thought about that. 'I hope not,' she finally said quietly.

'Looking back on his memories,' Sheppard said, 'I don't know if he was just nuts, or a flat out killer.'

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. 'You still have his memories?'

'Yeah,' Sheppard tapped the side of his head, 'guess I'll just add his family to all the other dead people I've got in my head.'

Elizabeth shook her head. 'You're not a killer, John.'

'I'm a soldier, Elizabeth, it's what I do. I've killed before and I will kill again.'

'A soldier and a killer are two different things.'

'Sometimes,' Sheppard shook his head, 'and sometimes not. When you're the one in charge, giving the orders to kill, what does that make you?'

'Burdened,' Elizabeth said with feeling.

Now it was Sheppard's turn to reach out and reassuringly squeeze Elizabeth's arm. At least he had been trained to send men to their deaths, he sometimes forgot Elizabeth hadn't, she hid it so well.

Elizabeth patted Sheppard's hand where it rested on her arm. 'This is why I know you're a good person and not a killer, John, you take on the responsibility, and it haunts you.'

Sheppard let his hand drop from Elizabeth's arm. 'Haunt is a good word for it right now.'

'Carson and Rodney seem to think the memories will fade in time.'

'Yeah.' Sheppard scratched the side of his neck. 'Rodney's convinced the device was set on temporary transfer during the ceremony and he said I shut it down so quickly it wouldn't have mattered either way.'

'Shut down, at least the Masters can't use this device on anyone else.' Elizabeth smiled up at Sheppard. 'Silver lining, right?'

Sheppard grunted in agreement, 'Right.' He looked towards the setting sun. He wouldn't have believed it when he first walked out here but he was feeling a little better. 'Thanks for the pep talk, coach.'

'Oh, don't think I did it entirely for your benefit,' Weir shrugged a little, 'but it's been a few weeks since I've given one. I thought I might need the practice.'

'Can't have you getting rusty.'

'Well,' Elizabeth walked away from the railing and clapped her hands together, 'it's getting late and I'm peckish. Buy you a slice of purple pumpkin?'

Sheppard wrinkled his nose in distaste.

'Fine,' she sighed dramatically, 'burger and fries.'

'Throw in a slice of cake and you've twisted my arm.' Sheppard held up one finger. 'Just as long as Beckett isn't there.'

'No promises.' Elizabeth walked towards the door, slowing as she realised John wasn't following.

'Be with you in a little while.'

Elizabeth nodded understanding. 'Don't be long and it's good to have you home.'

Sheppard looked down over the water as Elizabeth walked back into the tower. 'Yeah,' he said to himself, 'good to be home.'


End file.
